


Beyond Earth, To Moon

by OneBoyz



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: M/M, Star Trek - Freeform, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:20:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25206865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneBoyz/pseuds/OneBoyz
Summary: The year’s 2420 and it’s Youngjo’s maiden voyage as captain. He’s in charge of a 150 membered crew and one of them, somehow, is Yeo Hwanwoong. It’s Youngjo’s journey to the moon, his first trial as captain, and his chance to claim back Yeo Hwanwoong.
Relationships: Kim Geonhak | Leedo/Lee Seoho, Kim Youngjo | Ravn/Yeo Hwanwoong
Comments: 63
Kudos: 111





	1. Captain

Youngjo kept looking at the captain’s seat, the last moment of disbelief still clinging onto him. He was 5 years old when he dreamed of becoming a captain for the Earth fleet. His parents were both scholars who contributed majorly to the scientific advancement of the space fleet. So when he had told them that he wanted to pursue the life of a combat trooper, they were appalled. It wasn’t like he did not have the intellectual capacity to be a scholar – he could have even gotten a job onboard the fleet as a strategist or researcher – but it wasn’t the same. It wouldn’t have been the same. He wanted to fly. He had to fly. 

His father had been so angry at him that he refused to speak to him. That was until a week ago. The first time his father had spoken to him in years was when he had gone back home, after the results were out. 

“Dad, I made it! I passed the captain’s exam,” he had said, barely able to contain his excitement. His mother was in tears. His father didn’t say anything for the longest time and he thought he would just not speak. He was about to leave, when he heard his father’s voice, “I’m proud of you.”

“Captain?” He must have looked strange, staring at the captain’s chair, with a gleeful smile on his face. The chief engineer, Keonhee, looked worried. “You’re not drunk, are you?”

Youngjo rolled his eyes. “Of course not Keonhee, when have you ever seen me drunk?”

“Maybe you celebrated a bit too much,” Keonhee shrugged, “Wouldn’t blame you though, after all you’re the youngest captain of the 25th century.”

Oh that, Youngjo smiled. Every time he thought about it, he had the urge to give himself a high five. At 25, he was the youngest person to have passed a captain’s exam. It took people years to prepare for it, many sittings to actually pass it. Youngjo had joined the combat troopers at 18, trained for two years, went on his first mission when he was 21. He rose through the ranks quickly, despite being younger than all his peers. His mentor, the last captain he served, had believed in him.

“Youngjo,” Captain Hwang had said the day before he was going to take the exam. “I trust you. I trust you as my first officer, and I trust you take command. No matter what anyone says, I would proudly fly under your command.”

Not everyone had seen his steep climb in good light. There were lots of disapproving whispers around the academy about how his achievements were not right because of his age and experience. There was even a rumour that the academy would set a minimum age for becoming a captain. They haven’t had to do it so far because they have never had anyone pass the captain’s test at younger than 30. 

“In anyway, you don’t have to be here now you know,” Keonhee continued. He was sat in his seat, flicking through the control pad. “We’ll get everything ready until the 1st check. They’re only just loading the meals.”

“Ooh, what’s for lunch?”

Keonhee rolled his eyes. 

“Just go and have a big breakfast. Don’t look forward to the onboard lunch.”

“Hey, I like onboard food,” Youngjo said.   
Keonhee sighed.

“That’s because you only ever worked on the first-class airships,” Keonhee explained. “This is a second- tier ship, food’s going to be shit. They pick the chefs off the street, I swear.”

“That’s not true, we worked together on that 4th tier ship remember?” It was back when he was fresh out of the academy and Keonhee was only a trainee combat trooper, having been encouraged to join combat as he was agonizingly tall. However, he had later found interest in engineering and changed his specialty. 

“Argh don’t remind me!” Keonhee’s face scrunched up in disgust. “What were they thinking putting someone precious like me on that horrible ship!” He flicked his dark blue bangs. “At least I escaped quickly as it was only a trainee placement for me.”

Youngjo chuckled – it had been interesting to get to know Keonhee. Keonhee was always full of reactions, good or bad. He had made his stay in that 4th tier ship bearable. That was the good thing about having good grades, he supposed, he had been taken off the 4th tier ship and sent to a 2nd tier in no time.

There was a loud grating noise; it was the sound of disconnecting the loading dock. 

“Time for initial check,” Keonhee said, turning some buttons on hurriedly. “Where are these idiots?” he wondered, looking around at the other empty seats.

The rest of the bridge crew were usually expected by now – they had to be present for the initial check. Yet, there was no sign of the rest of them.

“I’ll just…ah…take a stroll,” Youngjo said, “I’ll see you later.” He pressed his hand against the pad and as the doors slid open, two people almost bundled onto him.

“-it’s not logical hyung!” someone saying. 

As Youngjo buckled back, he saw two members of the bridge crew – one of them seemingly dragging the other. 

“Guys, you’re late,” Keonhee chided before he could say anything.

Dongju, the chief navigation officer threw a dirty look at him. “Say that to this hyung, he was arguing with the combat lead in the middle of the hallway.”

Seoho, the chief strategist looked glum. “It wasn’t my fault, he was so rude!” 

Their combat lead had been changed a couple of days ago – the previous one refused to work under Youngjo as he thought he was too young. To be honest, the team he was commandeering were all younger than him because a lot of the older members refused to work under him. There were a lot of last minute changes and finally the team had been decided. It meant he was going to fly with a younger, newer team but he was not worried about that. They all had proved themselves through multiple tests, physical, intellectual, and even psychological. They all earned their places. It was just unusual to put all new main crew onto the same voyage. 

“If you’re going to do this, I’m going to throw you off the ship!” Keonhee shouted a second before Youngjo could intervene. Youngjo bit his lips. 

Seoho and Dongju both seemed to reel themselves in. 

“If you didn’t notice, the captain’s here.” Keonhee turned back to the mainframe.

“Sorry captain,” Seoho mumbled, with an awkward bow, before shuffling into his seat.

Dongju followed suit.

Youngjo wanted to say something. He was the captain after all, it was his job to straighten out the team. Keonhee had obviously stepped in and taken control of the situation, but it should have been him. 

“Well guys, umm…welcome aboard. I er…we’ll do formal introductions once the initial check is over. I’ll … I’ll be back.”

“Take your time, captain,” Keonhee said, while the others nodded.

Once outside the bridge, he let out a deep sigh. He had dreamed of the day when he would become the captain, but it was still nerve-wracking. It was as if he was treading on soft sand instead of ground, he couldn’t quite get his footing. 

Brushing the hair out of his eyes, he started walking down the hallway. He had something else to check before he went back to the bridge. A certain name on the list of crew had caught his eyes. 

There 150 members of the crew on this ship, including him. For the duration of this journey, they were under his command. Whatever he said, no matter how irrational, had to be obeyed. Of course he would only come to a decision after discussing with his bridge crew, but even then, he felt like a king. A lonely king. Nonetheless, his whole life had lead up to this moment and he was not about to lose his mind. He would only allow himself this one moment of weakness, he had thought. Since he had seen the list of the crew members and saw that name, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

Yeo Hwanwoong, he thought again, his heart beating faster. Could it really be him?


	2. Blueprint

Youngjo had looked through the blueprint of this ship – his ship - so many times that he had it memorized. Valkyrie-two-zero-one-nine – his ship. He thought the name was beautiful, just like its form. It wasn’t a brand-new ship, but it was still a 2nd tier ship that had its maiden voyage only a year ago. In terms of everything, he was lucky to be flying in a pretty new spaceship. 

Only 7 days after he had attained captaincy, he had been lucky enough to be commissioned his first mission. That had to be some kind of record. And it wasn’t a bottom-feeder, smaller mission like transporting ration either – it was a proper second-class mission. First class missions were mostly combat missions or rescue missions with high stakes, requiring rapid action. That would obviously not be appropriate for a first-time captain like him with a new crew, so it was understandable.   
The Foundation had placed a lot of trust in him, which had obviously ruffled feathers. This was why he had studied every inch of the elegant three-storied airship, went over the mission plan over and over again. He couldn’t fail the Foundation. 

As he now walked through the hallways he had only seen on blueprints, he felt an ominous thrill. The hard metal walls, the intricate wiring, all of it was his to command. Everywhere he went, he was met with bows and was followed by whispers. 

“Wow, he’s actually really young, isn’t he?”

“He’s good looking though.”

“How in the world did he pass the captain’s exam so young?”

“He must be a genius!”

“Or has powerful parents.”

“But still…”

Unknown to himself, Youngjo’s shoulders straightened and when he caught a glimpse of himself on one of the reflective surfaces, he couldn’t help but smile. Up the elevator onto the second floor, he came across the combat troopers’ dorm. This wasn’t a combat mission, so he was flying with only a handful of them; half of them would be trainees to give them firsthand experience of a mission, of space. It reminded him of when he was a trainee – how amazed he was on his very first mission. He was starstruck, literally. Space was beautiful. He had spent many hours when he had nothing to do with his face pressed against the glass windows, watching with the wonder the beauty and endlessness of space. it felt like it was only yesterday, when he had young eyes and big dreams. Right now, he was living his dream.   
He crossed the doors, turned left and came across a solid steel door. ‘ENGINEERING’ – it announced on the door in bold letters. He touched the electronic board and the door slid open noiselessly. The entry pads all operated on palm print. His hand could literally open any door in this ship. 

“Oh Captain, fancy seeing you here.” A warm familiar smile greeted him as he entered. 

“Dongheon-ah!” He had flown several times with Dongheon, once on a 6-month mission that they both remember fondly. They were the same age so they had gotten close. 

“I’m kind of jealous,” Dongheon pouted, admiring his gold-and-black captain’s uniform. “I failed to get the chief engineer position again.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you applied.”

Dongheon stuck his tongue out. “Of course I did. But a junior got it. Life’s not fair, eh?”

It must have been Keonhee who had beaten Dongheon and become the chief engineer.

The engineering training was rigorous – once they were finished with the university, they would start working fulltime on ships and go on missions. There were exams they had to pass to climb up the ranks. The last step was to become the chief engineer. Just like the captaincy exam, there was an exam and interview to become the chief engineer. 

“We’ll be back from this mission in no time, I’ll personally write you a recommendation after,” Youngjo promised.

“I’ll hold you to that promise,” Dongheon smiled. “I did okay in the exam but I think I flunked the interview.” Dongheon pouted. “That Lee Keonhee is really good at talking.”

“Now come on, he’s good at his job as well.”

Dongheon threw his hands up. “Not saying anything.” He grinned. “Anyway, the last time I saw you was a year ago, how have you been since?”

They shared a few memories, thinking about the long mission they were on and how much they had grown tired of onboard catering. Dongheon had packed ramen which he had shared with him when they’d miss home cooked meals. Youngjo’s tension slightly dissipated as he spoke to Dongheon. He felt at ease, at home. 

“By the way, I’m looking for someone,” Youngjo finally said, divulging the real reason he had come to the Engineering station. “I saw a name on the crew list…it might be someone I know…Yeo Hwanwoong?”

“Ooh, our very talented Yeo Hwanwoong! He’s just over there,” Dongheon nodded at the distant corner of the room. The room was full of screens and holographic floor-to-ceiling boards. There were about 4 or 5 people scattered around the room, all looking at monitors and calculations. He didn’t catch the familiar figure he was looking for. “I’m so glad he’s with us, I’ve never seen him slacking off.”

He barely listened to his friend, his heart had already started somersaulting. What if this was actually his Hwanwoong, what would he do? For a split second, he imagined taking Hwanwoong’s hand and running away.

“I’ll see you later Dongheon.” 

Youngjo’s feet carried him towards the corner Dongheon had pointed to, as if he was bewitched. As he moved closer, he saw the lithe figure he had been expecting, hunched over a computer screen, and he knew it was indeed whom he was looking for. It was his Yeo Hwanwoong.

“Hwanwoong?”

He turned around, his nose scrunched up, his eyes wide. Just as he last remembered him.

“Youngjo sunbae?” his mouth hung open slightly. His eyes wondered down to his gold-and-black uniform, to the 5 stars on his shoulder and the 5 stripes on his arm. “I’m sorry, C-captain?”

He had an urge to hug the younger, to engulf his petite figure in his arms. But that wouldn’t be very captain-like. Besides, he would probably just freak him out. But his heart was hammering, like it was ready for battle. Except this wasn’t a war and Yeo Hwanwoong was not the enemy. 

“Fancy seeing you here,” he smiled nervously, mimicking Dongheon. Now that he had verified it was actually his Hwanwoong, he didn’t know what to say. Or maybe what he wanted to say could not be expressed in words he knew.

“Congratulations,” Hwanwoong nodded at the stripes. “It’s an honour to work under you.”

“Don’t say that,” Youngjo mumbled. All of a sudden, he felt very shy to be standing in front of Yeo Hwanwoong, in his captain’s uniform. He felt small, even though he was a lot taller than the other man. “I-er I’ve heard good things about you from Dongheon.”

“I’m still 3rd class though,” Hwanwoong looked wistfully at the only gold stripe on his arm. “I can’t bring myself to take another test…but anyway,” he glanced up, “Anything I can do for you?”

It caught Youngjo by surprise. There was so much he wanted from Yeo Hwanwoong and yet he didn’t have the right to ask. He could command every single person on this ship, but not Yeo Hwanwoong. Why did Hwanwoong think he wanted something from him though? Did he look that needy?

“No, umm just wanted to make sure you were doing well.”

If the younger looked taken aback, he didn’t say it. “Thanks. It-it was good to see you, Captain.”

He didn’t know how long he’d have stood entranced by the younger but it was cut short by sudden green lights flashing around the room and a booming mechanical voice resonating through the metallic walls.

“Initial check complete. Successful.”

It was a sign that the bridge crew were ready for him.

“It was good to see you too….I…er – I have to get back.”

With a strange new feeling in his heart, Youngjo walked back to the bridge. If all went well, this mission should last 14 days. If all went well, by the end of it, he would ask Hwanwoong…what he couldn’t two years ago. But for now, he had something else in his mind. He pushed Yeo Hwanwoong to one side and started thinking of the task ahead. 

This was it – it was up to him now. From this moment onwards, all his staff would be obliged to his every command, even if it was against the Foundation’s orders. From this moment on, no one controlled them, just him.

On the bridge, his team was ready. They all stood up and bowed as he entered. He bowed back, catching them by surprise. Captains usually didn’t bow back, but he was going to be different. Every captain was slightly different, they had their own way of running things, their own brand of leadership. 

“Introductions!” a slender girl with a silver ponytail said. She had a nervous but endearing smile and large brown eyes. He hadn’t seen her before but he assumed that she was the first officer judging by her dark grey uniform with 4 stars and 4 golden stripes on her arm. She would be essentially his right hand; if something happened to him or he was incapacitated, she’d take command. “I’m first officer Moon Byul, reporting for duty.” She had been a recent addition to the team when his previous first officer had quit. 

Just like the blueprints, he had the personnel files memorized as well. Byul was a 1st class combat trooper and this was her first mission as the first officer. He smiled at her, trying not to show how nervous he felt properly meeting his bridge crew for the first time.

“Lee Keonhee, chief engineer, reporting for duty!” Keonhee added an unnecessary salute at the end of his sentence. 

Keonhee was visibly taller than everyone else in the room. His navy-blue hair fell into his eyes delightfully and Youngjo appreciated the way the corners of his mouths lifted when he spoke or smiled. He had an adorable lisp, largely due to the braces he wore on the bottom set of teeth. Just like him, Keonhee was young for his position, but he was also eerily capable. He had heard nothing but good reports from everyone he had worked with. Colleagues liked him and bosses had an easy time when he was around. Youngjo chuckled a little when he thought about how Keonhee had written ‘girl group dances’ as one of his hobbies on his CV; he had a sense of humour, which was a quality difficult to find among engineers.

“Lee Seoho, chief strategist, nice to meet all of you.” Seoho’s eyes crinkled pleasantly, which was bad for Youngjo because he was weak for eye smiles. Seoho had a chiselled jaw and narrow fox-like eyes. His grey uniform clung to his broad shoulders. Despite being an academic and a strategist, it was obvious that his body was built. 

Seoho was interesting – for most parts, his grades in university had been below average. But he had always outshone everyone in practical exams. Strategists were essentially the brains of the mission, the planners, the problem solvers – he excelled in all these qualities. An added bonus were the combat lessons he had taken voluntarily and were exceptionally good at. In Youngjo’s experience, strategists were quiet, geeky, and dull, but Seoho was the complete opposite.  
“Son Dongju, chief navigation officer, reporting for duty.” Dongju’s pale face looked like that of a model, all his features were perfect, including thick, long eyelashes. He had soft brown hair and long that matched his eyes. 

Dongju was literally a whiz kid. He had graduated from high school early, completed a university course on navigation that took others 3 years in just 1. He even skipped the 1st class and was promoted from 2nd class navigation officer to the chief. There were mixed feelings about that. Even though he had a photographic memory and was quicker than the AI machines that calculated the routes on these ships, he was very young. It made Youngjo a bit nervous but at the same time, he was in no place to judge. His own story was quite similar.

“Kim Geonhak, combat leader.” Geonhak was a broad-shouldered man who looked like he could lift about three people at the same time. 

Youngjo had actually known Geonhak at university – they were both combat majors; he was his senior by two years. Geonhak was famous for always exercising and training. There was a rumour about him on campus that he carried around dumbbells everywhere but to be fair, he had never seen the younger with any exercise equipment apart from when he had run into him at the gym and at training. They once had a long conversation about career when they were trainees – Geonhak had been thinking about joining the presidential security team but Youngjo had explained how he wanted to fly around space. It seemed like whatever Youngjo had said that day had swayed Geonhak’s mind. 

“I’m Kim Youngjo, your captain.” He smiled at them; in fact, he just couldn’t stop smiling. Your captain. “I know there’s been a lot of talk about me and this mission; we obviously didn’t get off to a great start with people refusing to go on this mission with me as their captain but I hope you’ll be able to trust me on this.” It was his idea to address the elephant in the room right from the beginning. There was no need to beat about the bush. 

“Of course we trust you captain,” Keonhee winked at him. “We are all looking forward to working with you.”

“That was my line,” Byul said, looking disappointed. “In any way captain, I have no doubts about you. I have only heard good things.”

“You’ll have many chances to prove yourself,” Seoho said kindly.

“Well I hope not, because that will mean things will go wrong and he’ll have to fix them,” Geonhak rebutted.

“You can prove yourself without things going wrong you know,” Seoho chided. Before it could turn into another argument, Youngjo thanked the team for the support.   
“Shall we go through the take-off checklist?”

“Yes sir,” Byul said, holding the checklist in her hand. “Initial check has not yielded any faults. All crew and supplies aboard. Secure communication channels open. We are cleared for this mission.” She nodded at Dongju. 

“We’re going to take the Frigid Star Point route that will take us away from the Martian territory and reach our final destination, the moon, in approximately 18 hours.” As Dongju spoke, the map showing the route that had been designed for them lit up on the giant screen in front of them. “We may have to deviate slightly at the 6th hour, depending on the course of a Blakan asteroid that is travelling at 150 metres per second. However, that should not add more than 30 minutes to the journey.”

“We have twice the fuel we need for this journey with a scheduled refueling in 7 days. No mechanical faults. Everything is a-ok,” Keonhee finished with a flourish.

“We’re not expecting in security breaches or danger,” Geonhak said solemnly, “so to be honest, we don’t’ really need a strategist.” He glared at Seoho, who rolled his eyes.

“I’ll be the judge of that, thanks.” Seoho sneered.

“Actually, I’ll be the judge of that,” Youngjo said. He had noticed the tension between these two crew mates; their body language was always on the offensive when they were interacting. He would have to be stuck with them for the next 14 days in this pressurized vehicle deep in space – he had to nip this in the bud. “I want my crew to treat each other with respect. Remember, we’re all here because we deserve to.” He looked around the bridge, all eyes were on him. “I trust all of you, I want you to trust each other as well.”

“Yes, captain!” everyone chorused back.

‘Lead by example’ – that was Youngjo’s motto. If he showed his team that he trusted them, they would reciprocate. 

“Thank you,” he said. “Now should we start our final check?”

“Affirmative!”

Youngjo watched as the bridge crew took their seats with silent pride. It was a new team, slow on their feet and getting to know the waters – but under the hand of a good leader, they could become a perfect team. It was not only their chance to learn to become a truly superior team, but it was also his chance to learn to become a leader. He looked forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys, it's my first ONEUS fic so comments would be appreciated :)


	3. Take-off

The bridge crew all took their seats, firing up diagnostic programmes on their individual systems. Most of these ‘checks’ were computer-led. The state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence programmes left little to be done manually. However, AI or not, no one was infallible, therefore, you needed humans when machines failed. The intensive training this crew had received meant that they could fly this giant, intricate airship all the way to a safe location manually, if they had to. That is what it meant to be truly capable.

“All weaponry safely sealed, ready for flight, captain,” Geonhak said. He looked like a man who meant business, who had no time for nonsense, except when he was bickering with Seoho.

The red-headed man turned in his chair. “All travel intelligence received and processed, no hold up on my side.” Seoho sounded almost cheerful, like he couldn’t wait to be in air, above the atmosphere.

“All go on my end,” Dongju deadpanned. He was a man of few words.

Seoho whispered something in Keonhee’s ear that made him giggle. “No troubles from my side,” he said, chuckling.

Green lights flashed on each screen, one after the other like dominoes. 

“All diagnostics are green,” Byul said, pushing a button, that brought on the mechanical echoey voice ringing through every wall of the ship.

‘Final check complete. All clear.’

“Ready for departure, sir,” Keonhee said in a singsong voice.

“Hey, that’s my line again!” Byul frowned. “Captain, we are ready for departure,” she repeated.

“Right, well done guys.” Youngjo put his communication headset on. It was a combined microphone, earphone, and visual screen. It was directly connected to the mainframe, so he would be able to see the screen of any of his bridge crew at will. Currently, he was connected to Byul’s screen, which showed the view just outside the ship. The loading dock had been disconnected, but the personnel dock was still attached. 

Clearing his throat, he said, for the first time in his life, “This is Valkyrie-two-zero-one-nine, Captain Kim Youngjo speaking, Control come in.”

There was a brief second of static before he heard an enthusiastic voice at the other end, “Captain Kim Youngjo, what an honour! This is Control, at your service.”

“Kevin!” Youngjo smiled, despite the younger not being able to see him. Kevin was his favourite Control caller. He was always chirpy, like he was loving life at every moment. “Who better to send me off on my first flight as captain than you.”

“Watch how professionally I handle this,” Kevin chirped. “Valkyrie-two-zero-one-nine, have you cleared your final check?”

“Yes indeed, sending you confirmation,” he nodded at Byul. 

“Beautiful,” Kevin replied. “Well Captain Kim, please read out your mission declaration.”

Every mission had its own unique code that had to be confirmed with Control before takeoff just to ensure there were no unauthorized takeoffs. 

“Mission RTK666, destination Moon.”

“Nope can do, you have to say Earth’s Moon.”

“You do realise all the other moons have names, and Earth’s Moon is just Moon.”

“Can’t clear you until you say the right thing,” Kevin said in a mischievous voice.

Youngjo rolled his eyes. “Destination Earth’s Moon.” It sounded silly, it was against his principles, but Kevin was Kevin. 

“Thank you. Well mission RTK devil, your clear for takeoff.”

“Really, I can’t say just moon and you can say RTK devil?”

“I don’t make the rules,” Kevin giggled, “oh wait, it totally do.” He burst out laughing. Kevin was adorable but as the time for takeoff approached, Youngjo grew more anxious. He glanced at the room. His team was sat very still in their seats, hawk eyes on their screens. “Ok, please proceed to takeoff area 1452.”

“Disengaging personnel dock,” Byul said, pressing the right button. She was supposed to wait for the captain’s order but she was probably too nervous and so appeared hurried.

“Ok, lead the way, Dongju,” Youngjo said, his throat unusually dry. His screen changed to that of Dongju’s where he had marked out the path to area 1452. His throat still feeling like sand, Youngjo took the steering wheel, maneuvering the giant ship according to the route laid out by the navigation officer. 

“Park your butt right there and get ready to take off, my mate,” Kevin’s gleeful voice rang in his ears. “T-90 seconds.”

“Ninety seconds,” Youngjo repeated to his team. 

“All boosters engaged, all 5 engines online; engine at 67% power. Primary breaks disengaged.” Keonhee pressed buttons and pushed the throttles with machine-like efficiency.

“Sixty seconds,” Kevin announced.

His heart sped up, like the wings of a trapped bird in his rib cage. 

“Secondary breaks disengaged.”

The sound of the engines roared as the massive airship vibrated under the tremendous power the six engines were generating. The seat belt felt tight against his chest.

“Thirty seconds. Good luck hyung, come back safe. And…congratulations!” Kevin’s voice petered out. 

“All thrusts engaged, engine at 96.7% power.” He thought even Keonhee’s voice wavered a little. He remembered this was not just his first time as captain, but it was his bridge crew’s first times as chief officers. He wanted to say something to encourage them, to tell them that nervousness they were feeling were normal. They were all sitting at the edges of their seats, except Dongju, who was leaning back, as if waiting to watch a movie. 

Keonhee’s screen flashed before his eyes, all parameters were set. All the numbers were looking good. He swapped to Dongju’s screen – checking the takeoff route and the angle at which he would launch this airship thousands of feet into the atmosphere. 

“Ten seconds,” Youngjo said, “Byul, countdown.”

All their screens had started the countdown clock but takeoff was a hectic time and during something like this, no one should rely on just one of their senses.   
“Ten, nine, eight…” Youngjo could tell Byul was forcing herself to keep her voice steady. “Six, five…”

“Main breaks disengaged,” Keonhee almost shouted.

“Two, one!” 

Youngjo felt the familiar sensation of his centre gravity dropping through his body and his heart tickling as the airship was throttled forwards into the sky in a steep ascent, close to the speed of sound. This was nothing new for him, but he felt the same thrill as the first time.

“We’re at 3km,” Byul called out.

The speed at which the airship took off was close to the speed of sound which helped them accelerate rapidly as they rose fast through the Earth’s atmosphere. The rapid ascent was required for them to escape the Earth’s gravitational pull. 

“Fifteen kilometres.”

“All levels steady, engine at 98%,” Keonhee shouted above the roar of the engine, even though he didn’t have to as they were all connected by their headsets. 

“Sixty kilometres.”

Everything was smooth sailing so far, just as he had hoped. All the lights on the dashboards were calm green, his bridge crew were in control, the sound of the engine was even. They were hurtling towards the Moon, with Youngjo as the captain. The Moon, he thought, with a flutter in his heart. For some reason, his next thought was Hwanwoong.

“One hundred kilometres, we’re at Karman line.” This was where the Earth’s atmosphere ended and space began. Deep, endless space.

“Valkyrie-two-zero-one-nine to control, we’ve passed Karman line, no-difficulty takeoff.” 

“Decreasing engine power to 75%,” Keonhee stated. The collective sound of everyone unbuckling their seat belts was heard. 

It took them about 30 minutes rise beyond the atmosphere but it felt like only a couple of minutes.

“Crew, you can take off your seatbelts and mobilise,” Byul announced on the internal speaker for the benefit of the rest of the ship. Now that the worst was over and there was nothing else to immediately worry about, Youngjo wondered what Hwanwoong was doing.

“Great job everyone,” he said. “That was smooth as butter.” He checked Dongju’s screen – they were following the route he had coursed out to the t. 

“We have the best captain,” Keonhee replied. 

Youngjo chuckled. 

“Do you always suck up to the boss?” Byul said, rolling her eyes.

“Do you always leave your social skills at home?” Keonhee spat back.

“Now, now,” Youngjo warned. He already had one bickering couple on the bridge, he couldn’t have another.

For the next half an hour, there was peace in the bridge as Keonhee recounted a hilarious story about the time he had spent a day with Europans, natives of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, and had thought for whole time that they were Europeans. Only when he had seen one of their transparent hearts had he realized that they were not from Earth at all. “I did think that the fact they did not need to drink water was strange but you know, I’ve never been to Europe.”

“You’re insane,” Byul was crying tears from laughing too much.

“I didn’t think anyone had a lower IQ than Europans, but you…” Dongju said, his face impassive. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Keonhee scowled.

“Nothing,” Dongju turned his chair to face the screen again, “just be glad the Europans didn’t mistake you for a troll, you’ve got the looks for it.”

This sent Geonhak into a fit of laughter as Keonhee watched distastefully. 

“Absolute children,” he sneered. “Anyway captain, fancy a coffee?”

Youngjo watched with fatherly pride: this was his team, and he couldn’t wait to watch them grow and mature under his wings.


	4. Roadblock

“Shall we get coffees then?” Keonhee repeated.

“Why don’t you make us all coffee? You have absolutely nothing to do,” Geonhak said, turning to Seoho.

“Sure, coffee making involves more than one step, so I guess it’s not something you could handle,” Seoho replied coolly, not missing a beat.

Geonhak rose from his chair threateningly while the rest of the team giggled as they watched him chase Seoho around the bridge. Seoho was surprisingly agile and Geonhak was having a hard time catching up to him. 

It was perhaps amusing for the bridge crew but Youngjo was not happy. He did not think it was professional and he was worried that if he let this continue, it would grow into something bigger. As much as he was here to be their friend, he also had the difficult job of disciplining them when required. It was the unfortunate job of the captain to be the leader, to be the bad guy.

“Okay, that’s it, you need to stop this! You’re not kids. You’re banned from the bridge for the next hour, both of you. Go!” 

The atmosphere turned severe in the bridge. Geonhak and Seoho came to a halt, almost comically, looking guilty. If Youngjo had learned anything from the years, it was that bad behaviour had to be curbed early, nipped in the bud. 

“We’re really sorry, Captain,” Keonhee said, getting up and bowing. He eyed the rest of them who followed suit.

“It won’t happen again, Captain,” Seoho and Geonhak mumbled together, avoiding eye contact. 

He could have forgiven them then but they had to know he was the kind of leader who’d follow through.

“Out, you two,” he said, almost calmly.

The two remorseful men walked out of the bridge, while the rest got back to their stations. 

The air in the bridge was stiff with tension. Everyone worked in silence, trying to make as little noise as possible.

“Flight status?” Youngjo finally broke the suffocating silence in the bridge. He couldn’t look his crew in the eyes, just because it was so unlike him to get angry so easily. But he felt the pressure of being the boss, of keeping his team in line, the pressure to succeed…

“We’re 137 seconds ahead of schedule, on the flight path, engine at 55%, no technical difficulties. Control is updated,” Byul read off anxiously.

He must have scared everyone with his outburst, if you could call it that. But so far, it was not going the way he had planned. All his life, he had known what kind of a captain he wanted to be – kind, considerate, friendly; someone the crew would trust with their life but would also love and respect. He had dreamed of his crew being on the best of terms, and every other team would be jealous. How does Captain Youngjo do it – they would wonder.

However, he hadn’t realized that no matter how hard he tried, 5 people would just not mesh together like they were meant to be soulmates that easily. People were not puppets and relationships were complicated. 

“I’m just going for a coffee,” Youngjo finally said, unable to take the stifling silence on the bridge. “Byul, take control.” Everyone stood to bow but he dismissed them with his hand. His heart sank as he realized they were afraid of him.

He turned right – the captain’s office was just off the bridge. It was a medium-sized room with a table and a comfortable chair. There was a computer screen on the table, connected to that of the bridge. There was a small paper calendar hanging on the wall, with the earth dates and star dates side by side. It was February the 9th, star date 14.56.89. it was supposed to be the best day of his life.

He tried to take his mind off everything for a moment. He wanted to think about nothing. The problem was, whenever he tried to empty his head, he had a habit of thinking about…

The day he met Hwanwoong was exceptionally cloudy. It was so gloomy that he didn’t even want to go out but his friends from the Academy were gathering for a night out. Because they were all busy with their missions, it was rare for them to be on Earth at the same time. Therefore, he had to go. They watched a movie together, then gathered at a bar. It was a smallish bar and very packed – he later realized why – the music was amazing. 

As the night grew deeper, his friends were mostly scattered around, some had left, and others were on the dance floor. He was drinking by himself but he had been only drinking soda all evening so he was not drunk at all. He had to go home and study for the captain’s exam; he couldn’t afford to be drunk and pass out. But everyone else around him was drunk. For example, the young blonde man who was staring at him intensely from the other end of the bar. 

He felt uncomfortable at first, chewing on the churros he had ordered out of anxiety. As a group of Venetians, who were sitting between him and the blonde chap, got up to dance, the young man slid across the table to sit next to him, uncomfortably close. Putting his face between his small hands, the man stared at him – no, at his churros, to be exact. 

Taken aback, Youngjo had silently offered him his churros. The young man’s pink cheeks glistened and his eyes lit up as he grabbed a churro and bit into it. 

“You,” he had said, pointing straight at Youngjo’s face, his index finger inches from Youngjo’s nose, “I think I kind of like you!” His speech was slurred, he was obviously very drunk.

“Umm…err…no, I don’t… I mean…” Youngjo was so flustered that he just wanted to bury himself there and then. He didn’t know how to reply to something like that. The young man’s eyes were beautiful, almond-shaped. And his lips…they were full. He noticed with a gulp that he was wearing a silver lip ring. 

“What’s your name, you, guy I kinda like?” the man slurred.

Youngjo broke out in a cold sweat. He fanned himself lightly with his hand but only managed, “I…er…from…”

He knew he was a good-looking man, he had been confessed to before – he had no doubts he was attractive. But there was something about the way this young man said it, the way his words rolled into each other and the way his eyes sparkled and his cheeks shone – he felt attacked.

“I’ll call you…Raven! How’s that for a name, you beautiful stranger?” Youngjo choked on his saliva as the young man giggled. “I’m Yeo Hwanwoong.”

Youngjo tried to say something but it came out as a series of gurgles.

“What can I do to repay you for your delicious churros, my good sirrr?” Yeo Hwanwoong laughed and it was probably because of the song that was playing it sounded musical. “I know,” Hwanwoong stood up excitedly, “I’ll show you something!”

Before Youngjo could protest, the younger man took him by the hand and with surprising strength, pulled him up from the bar stool and dragged him through the crowd, all the way to the exit. 

Now if Youngjo ever told this story to anyone, he would say that Hwanwoong was stronger than he looked and had used his titan strength to force him to follow him. However, the truth was, there was no way the younger could have dragged him around if he had resisted.

Once outside, Hwanwoong did not let go of his hand. It was pouring outside and within seconds, they were drenched. Their feet splashed through puddles as they ran through the crowd of people. 

“It’s r-raining!” That was the first complete sentence Youngjo had spoken to Hwanwoong. 

They ran through the busy streets like many people who were trying to take shelter from the rain. Hwanwoong took him along a small side street that took them up a hill. Once they were at the top of the hill, Hwanwoong finally stopped but immediately proceeded to fall to the ground. Youngjo caught him just in time and he smiled up at him. “See?” he said, pointing at the moon, “Pretty, isn’t it?”

The moon was barely visible through the curtain of rain but he could make out its full form. 

“It’s raining,” he complained, wet to the bones, shivering. 

“Just forget about the rain,” Hwanwoong said. “Forget about it, and look.”

It was stupid, it was even insane. He could have caught a cold, the five chapters he was supposed to revise were forgotten, and the hilltop was deserted. All his common sense, above-average intelligence, and sense of responsibility warned him against it – but he spent the night on the hilltop, sitting on a rock, with Yeo Hwanwoong leaning against him. At one point, Hwanwoong fell asleep, his head resting on his shoulder. But Youngjo stayed awake. He stayed awake and wrote his first poem.

The buzzer brought him back to the present. The CCTV monitor showed him that it was Keonhee outside the door. He pressed a button and let him in.

“There you are, thought we lost you,” Keonhee said. He was carrying two cups of coffee. “Kind of realized you wouldn’t make yourself the coffee.”

“Oh hey, thanks,” Youngjo said, accepting the cup. “Sorry, I was distracted.”

“First dream day not going as planned?” He nodded towards the monitor showing the bridge. 

Sighing, he said, “Not quite.”

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” Keonhee’s voice was soft, sympathetic. 

“I just – I don’t know what I did wrong.”

“Hyung,” Keonhee said emphatically, “these guys are adults – if they choose to act like children, it’s not your fault. But you – you told them fair and square that they’re not allowed to act like children on your bridge. You did your part. Now let them come around.”

“I didn’t want to be a father, I wanted to be a leader.”

Keonhee put an arm on his shoulder gently. “You’re our captain, you have to be a bit of both.”

Youngjo smiled. He could manage it, be a bit of both. He had parenting experience after all – he raised Sunny, his puppy, all by himself. He was proud of the fact.  
“We should go back to the bridge,” Youngjo said, sipping his coffee. “Also, how much sugar have you put in this?” 

“Just enough to cheer you up,” Keonhee laughed. “Shall we stop by the kitchen though? I’m hungry.”

“Don’t lie, I saw the stack of snacks you have beside your seat.”

“Those are for emergency.”

They both laughed. Youngjo could feel the tension in his joints dissipate. He was really glad that Keonhee was here with him, on this mission. There was a strangely mature side to this tall lanky man and a maternal instinct that would fill anyone with warmth. Besides, it was good to know someone was on his side.

“Let’s go back.”

Keonhee almost reached the door when Youngjo stopped him. Something else had occurred to him, something important. Every door in this ship opened to Youngjo’s palm print although some also required his retinal scan. But the point was, he could go anywhere in this ship. The other way to access every door on this ship was the master key and master code. 

Usually, the Captain entrusted the master key and the master code to another crew member, so that in case of emergency, they would have access. It was left to the captain’s discretion which crew member they chose to entrust the master key and code to. Youngjo had been thinking about it and he couldn’t think of anyone better than Keonhee. Even though Byul was the first officer and he had no doubt she was extremely capable, he and Keonhee had a history and he trusted him completely.

“Here you go,” he handed the chief engineer the sleek master key, “the code is 140220.”

Keonhee looked surprised but once he realised what it was, he looked pleased. 

“Proved myself, have I?” he asked, pocketing the key. 

“Don’t get cocky, I can take it back.”

“No, my precious!” Keonhee croaked. “You know I won’t let you down. Unless it’s to sneak into the kitchen to steal snacks.”

Youngjo shook his head. “As long as it’s just that and as long as you promise to bring some back for me.”

“Deal!” the taller man winked. “Besides, there is a pretty chef I might set you up with.”

“I’d rather you concentrate on the task ahead.”

“Yes, sir,” Keonhee saluted again. Youngjo had an urge to run his hand through his hair but that wouldn’t be very professional. With a new sense of vigour, he started walking towards the bridge – whatever was waiting for him behind those doors, he would take it head on.


	5. Out in space

Keonhee and Youngjo walked back to the bridge, skipping a trip to the kitchen to pick up a snack. Byul was busy at the control panel while Dongju was doing a crossword, leaning back in his seat. The AI technology these ships used didn’t leave much to do as well as everything was smooth sailing. It was like autopilot in space. Since the threat level of this mission was low, there was no sense of foreboding or urgency. 

“These old crosswords are fun,” Dongju remarked, dropping the book in his lap and stretching. “Silly, but fun.”

Byul and Keonhee said, “Nerd,” at the same time and laughed. Dongju just raised an eyebrow.

“Guys, we need to decide when you’re going to have your breaks,” Youngjo said. “Anyone keen on going first?”

“Me!” Keonhee said enthusiastically. “I’m starving.”

“Fine, who next? Dongju?”

“I’m easy.”

“Okay, Byul after Dongju. And Seoho and Geonhak… call them back.” He reckoned they’ve had enough punishment, perhaps enough time to reflect on their actions.

A few minutes later, the two entered and apologized. They looked genuinely sorry. Youngjo nodded solemnly.

“Were you guys reflecting on your actions,” Byul asked.

“Yes,” Geonhak replied, “while playing Kart Cruiser.”

It surprised Youngjo that the two had decided to make up by playing a game together. It didn’t matter how, but as long as they got along, it was all good.

“Who won?” Keonhee asked.

“Me!” they both chorused at the same time, glaring at each other.

“Why did I even ask,” the chief engineer shook his head. 

“Before I forget team, we need to decide on your partners.”

It was standard for every member on the ship to have a partner. It was mostly important during a mission where there was a chance of encountering danger, but since danger was unpredictable, it was the rule for every person to have a partner they’d be responsible for. This also encourage team building and friendship. Every team on the ship had a team leader who’d arrange this; the bridge crew was of course Youngjo’s responsibility. 

“Anyone have any preferences?”

They all shook their heads. In his mind, Youngjo had already decided on the first pair.

“Geonhak and Seoho.” It was a mark of how scared they were of Youngjo that the two named held in their groans. He could see Geonhak’s fists tighten, his veins bulging.

“Dongju and Keonhee?” 

“Yes sir,” Keonhee replied as Dongju shrugged. He didn’t look very bothered.

“That leaves you with me, Byul.”

“I’m ecstatic,” she announced, looking genuinely happy.

“You all know the drill, you never leave your partner behind. Your partner is your responsibility. At the end of this, I hope you develop a lifetime friendship but even if that doesn’t happen, while you are on this mission, your partner is your soulmate.”

“Did you hear that you two,” Keonhee guffawed, looking at the quarrelling couple meaningfully, “Your soulmate.” He made a kissing motion with his lips, causing Byul to giggle.

“Now that’s all settled,” Youngjo interrupted in a loud voice, “Keonhee, why don’t you start your break?”

“Yes, sir.” Keonhee got out of his seat. “Dongju, my soulmate, would you keep an eye on my screen please?” he said in a singsong voice.

Dongju shrugged. 

The mood on the bridge was a lot more relaxed. They talked about their university or Academy days. Byul mentioned how her parents were against her becoming a combat major as she was an only child. However, she had always wanted to be a trooper and eventually a captain. She took the exams without telling her parents and when she had gotten in, they had finally let her attend.

The conversation then turned to romantic partners and turned out they were all single, except Byul, who had a boyfriend who was currently on a mission in Mars. Dongju only smiled mysteriously and refused to answer. Youngjo felt a pang in his heart.

He wondered what Hwanwoong was doing right now. Was he on his break, or was he working hard? Would it be strange if he went to see him again?

After the night they had spent together on top of the hill, it had been awkward. Hwanwoong had woken up sober and apologized profusely for everything he had done. Youngjo was too shy to tell him that the night had been his muse. 

“Let me take you home,” Youngjo had offered but the younger had vehemently refused.

The next night, he had returned to the bar again, hoping to run into Yeo Hwanwoong and his fairy-like smile. When he couldn’t find him, he ended up asking the bartender.

“Oh yeah, Yeo Hwanwoong, he’s a regular. He always comes with a bunch of friends…mainly on weekends.”

He had returned the next weekend and found Hwanwoong dancing with a guy. Even though his frame was petite, his body moved to the rhythm in a way he had never seen anyone move before. It was so mesmerizing that he dared not interrupt. Once the song was over, Hwanwoong came over to the bar to order a drink.

“Hello, Yeo Hwanwoong,” Youngjo had said, catching his attention.

“Oh, you? I mean, didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Who’s your friend Woongie?” The man he was dancing with had come over. He was taller than Hwanwoong, with a long neck and sharp nose. 

“Oh, this is…” Hwanwoong looked embarrassed as he had never actually gotten Youngjo’s name.

“I’m Kim Youngjo.”

“Ji Changmin, nice to meet you.” However, the expression on the man’s face looked suspicious. “How did you guys meet?”

Hwanwoong shot him an angry look and did something that was very unexpected. Grabbing Youngjo’s wrist, he had pulled him away from the bar and once again, they were cutting through the crowd and out of the building. They could hear Changmin calling his name but Hwanwoong did not look back.

“Are you okay?” Youngjo finally asked when they were out of the bar. Changmin hadn’t given chase.

“Yeah, my friend was just getting on my nerves.”

“Do you want to take a walk?”

Hwanwoong had looked at him, unsure for a while, before nodding.

They walked through many known and unknown streets, talking about their lives and dreams, for the rest of the night. The more he heard Hwanwoong speak, the more he felt drawn to him. He had never felt so close and yet so far away from a person before. 

Thankfully it didn’t rain again but when morning dawned, Hwanwoong did let Youngjo take him to his dorm.

“Thanks for listening,” Hwanwoong had said at the door.

It took Youngjo everything to not give the younger a peck on the lips. Instead, he patted his shoulder awkwardly. 

“I-er…I’ll see you again.”

“I hope you guys haven’t talked about me behind my back.” 

Keonhee’s loud voice returned him to the present. He scanned the screen in front of him quickly, reading the progress report Byul had been logging. Everything looked just as it should be.

“Dongju, your turn.”

Dongju shrugged, getting out of his seat and making his way towards the door. He really was a man of few words. Youngjo was still amazed at this 20-year-old kid - he had achieved twice as much as anyone his age would have.

The next half an hour went by peacefully – thankfully, both Seoho and Geonhak were behaving themselves. Keonhee and Seoho helped to keep the spirits up, talking about fun memories from their days as trainees, Byul joining in here and there. Geonhak was quiet, although Youngjo had seen him crack a smile once or twice – Keonhee’s stories were lethal.

Suddenly, a small quiet beep sounded on Keonhee’s screen, causing him to turn back his attention to it. After a few hurried motions at the control, he turned back to Youngjo.

“Our motion sensor is detecting something…something that shouldn’t be there.” He brought up a fuzzy picture of a rounded object, much smaller than their ship, taken by the ship’s external cameras. It was difficult to make out what it was.

“What is it?” Byul asked, alarmed. “Can you magnify it?” 

Keonhee’s hands were busy, flying off the control panel. The picture grew bigger and a bit sharper, but there was still no way of saying what it was. 

“Our database can’t recognize it so far, it will take 30 minutes to actually run it through the entire database…”

Seoho joined in, trying to make the process quicker manually.

“Is it the Blakan asteroid?” Youngjo asked. His pulse quickened a bit. The asteroid was way ahead of its schedule and that wasn’t a good sign.

“No, too early for that,” Seoho said, frowning. “Besides it’s not moving like an asteroid.”

“Byul, contact the nearest Control station, see if it’s another ship, or if they have any information regarding this.”

“Yes, sir.” Byul punched in the code that would connect her to the nearest Control, which would probably be the Asai space station. “This is Valkyrie-two-zero-one-nine, travelling 3m away from the 5th Magama Point, we have an unidentified object…”

Youngjo moved closer to Keonhee and Seoho, trying to concentrate. This was one of those moments which would make or break his career. No, this was one of those moments where he was in charge of all the souls aboard his ship, who were looking to him for protection. This was where he had to prove to his crew that he was in control. More importantly, this may be the very moment where one wrong decision could put everyone on this ship at risk. 

“Geonhak, get Dongju here, now.”

As he hunched over the chief engineer and the chief strategist, he could hear Geonhak’s voice over the speakers, “Officer Dongju to the bridge, immediately, Officer Dongju to the bridge.”

“Asai space station does not know about this unidentified object,” Byul’s voice was panicky. “They’re putting a message out for any nearby spacecraft or space stations to see if anyone has a better view.”

Youngjo wanted to console Byul, tell her it would be okay but right now every second seemed precious. “Is the picture getting any clearer?”

“What’s wrong?” Dongju’s calm voice joined them.

“There is a thing – out there – something,” Geonhak said, at a loss. It was a mark of how nervous he was that he couldn’t find the right words.

“It’s an identified flying object, flying at about 6568 miles per hour, detected by our motion sensors 5 minutes ago,” Seoho said, filling the younger in as he took his seat. “We can’t ID it and the space station does not know what it is. It’s too early for the Blakan asteroid but could it be a piece of it, like a wreck?”

Dongju’s eyes glowed green as they reflected the light from the screen. He was typing furiously, pushing buttons with deft fingers as his eyes consumed the data on the screen. 

“It’s a satellite,” he finally said, causing everyone else to gasp. 

“There are no satellites on the real-time map stationed within 100 km of us,” Byul said, sounding unconvinced.

“It definitely is a satellite, look at the speed and the angle of rotation-look I don’t have time to explain,” he turned his chair and looked at Youngjo earnestly, “I know this is a satellite, if Control doesn’t know about it, it’s probably not ours. Could be a rogue, could be secret spy satellite, but right now it’s heading directly at us at a momentum that would be enough to destroy our ship. I’d say we have about 20 minutes.”

A fine tingling sensation crawled from Youngjo’s head all the way down to his feet and his fingers. He suddenly felt numb. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.  
“We-we need to declare Red Alert,” Byul said, all but crying. 

“We need to contact Earth Control and the Admiral,” Geonhak’s voice was steady but exceptionally quiet.

Youngjo turned to look at his crew. They were all scared. Their faces were pale, their eyes anxious. No one had expected something like this on their first mission. Of course, they were trained to prepare for anything and everything but they all think – it won’t happen to me, surely. It was a coping mechanism, perhaps.

It all comes down to one moment. A moment of glory, or a moment of disaster.

His eyes met Keonhee’s and he saw something else there – faith, trust. ‘I’ll follow you to the deep end’ – they were saying.

“Listen to me very carefully,” he finally said, trying to sound out his words so that he didn’t have to repeat himself. “We will not declare Red Alert, not now. It will cause panic among the rest of the crew. We’re not going to contact Earth Control. Byul, get in touch with Asai space station, declare Amber Alert, follow up on any leads that we can use to identify this satellite or any way to hail whoever is controlling the satellite. Keonhee and Seoho, help Dongju in any way you can, whatever he needs. Geonhak, try and contact any nearby spacecraft, satellite, space station, ask for their footage, anything that picks up this satellite. And Dongju,” he turned to the young man, locking his eyes with him, “Get us out of this. I trust you to.”

The navigation officer nodded, turning around to start working. Keonhee nodded his approval too. However, some of them were obviously uncomfortable with the orders and opened their mouths to argue but he put an end to it by holding up a hand.

“I have listened to you all, trust me, and I’ve made a judgement call. I can’t make you all happy but for now, I am your Captain and if it doesn’t work my way, I will listen to yours. Now please, make every second count.”

Everyone went back to their stations as Dongju got busy. Youngjo felt a sense of pride, for making a decision others probably wouldn’t make. But a Red Alert now would cause mass panic among his crew and would cause Earth Control to interfere. The Control was great, but they weren’t here, they weren’t witnessing it, they weren’t in the moment.

“The Control can’t see through your eyes, Youngjo,” Captain Hwang had said to him. “You are their eyes and ears. No matter what footage or satellite location they have, they are not privy to the full picture like you are. Trust your decisions, even if they go against the Control’s.”

I just hope this works, he prayed.


	6. Accelerate

Every second that passed felt like another nail on his coffin. Youngjo tried to breathe slowly, through his mouth. He trusted Dongju, he trusted his skills. And yet it was so hard to not have control.

“How fast can you make this ship accelerate?” Dongju asked Keonhee.

“Well, it depends on what course we’re taking and if there are any maneuvers involved-”

“Can you accelerate us to 1.64 times in the next 5 minutes and sustain for 10 minutes? Dongju’s eyes were sharp.

“That’s insane!” Keonhee laughed. “You’re dreaming, kiddo.”

“I’m sure you’ve done it in simulations, engineers love that stuff.”

The taller man glared at him. “Maybe I have, but it was a simulation. This, if you’ve not grasped it yet, is real life.”

The chief navigation officer stared at his colleague coldly. “Can you do it or not?”

Keonhee threw his arms in the air and looked at Youngjo, requesting him to mediate. 

“Is that going to work, Dongju?” Youngjo asked, frowning. What the younger was asking Keonhee to do was a dangerous thing. Even if they had enough fuel for something like this, rapid acceleration was still dangerous and could cause problems to the ship. However, if it was the only way to save themselves, he would take that leap.

“I have a plan,” Dongju said calmly, lighting the main screen up with a schema of his plan. “If we can accelerate to 1.64 times, we can reach the Astral point,” a yellow glow lit up on the screen, “quicker than the satellite. From there, we need to dip at a 90 degree angle and travel diagonally for 2 minutes before coming right up, away from the satellite. This is the only way to avoid the force field around the satellite and causing damage to our ship.”

“Except it sounds mental!” Byul cried before anyone else could say anything. She was staring at the screen as if she was having a nightmare. Geonhak didn’t look happy either.

“It could work,” Seoho volunteered. He was staring at the schema Dongju had put up, no doubt running calculations in his head.

“It could also get us killed,” Geonhak growled disapprovingly.

“Has anyone found out who the satellite belongs to or who’s controlling it?”

Both Byul and Geonhak shook their heads. “Everyone’s looking but…” Byul tapered off.

Youngjo bit his lip, then looked Dongju in the eyes. “The maneuver you’re talking about is an incredibly difficult one, I’ve only ever done it in simulations.” His voice was deep with worry. This was his moment where he had to make a tough decision, the Captain’s call. “But, we all learn from simulation and there is always a first time for everything, for all of us. If there is no other way, if this is our best shot, I’d like to try it.” 

The next minute was the longest of Youngjo’s life as the crew exchanged dubious looks, pondering their options. Finally, Keonhee nodded, causing the rest of the crew to follow suit. Geonhak was the last one to agree and he did not look pleased about resigning their fate to their Captain and chief engineer, guided by their chief navigation officer.

“Let’s do it,” Youngjo said more confidently, even though he was feeling everything but. “Dongju, you have command.”

“Yes, Captain.” Dongju’s eyes were intense. “Hyung, you ready?” he asked Keonhee, who replied in the affirmative.

Byul sent out an announcement for the rest of the crew to be seated with seatbelts fastened. They had no idea that what was about to happen or the threat that was facing their safety. 

In the next couple of minutes, Keonhee managed to accelerate the ship to an incredible speed under close guidance from Dongju. Props to Keonhee as he did it without causing any significant damage to the ship. It was like he was the engine whisperer and he willed the engine to spin faster, causing their speed to go up. 

In his entire career, Youngjo had never been challenged like this. The 90 degree dip that Dongju wanted was stupidly technical and difficult. Youngjo almost entered a trance as he only thought about the complex maneuver he was completing. His hand was clenching on the steering wheel with everything he had, causing his knuckles to turn white. He said a quick prayer under his breath as his chest rose and fell rapidly, cold shivers running down his spine.

“That’s it, maintain that angle for 45 more seconds,” Dongju said encouragingly, “it’s working.”

“Dongju, I’m burning way too much fuel, how much longer do you want me to keep this up? There’s uncontrolled combustion in engines 1 and 2, at this rate we will run dry,” Keonhee screamed, what seemed like from far away.

Youngjo felt as if he was in a tunnel, or a cave, and it was just him. Him and steering wheel. There were alarms going off everywhere but they were all reaching him like slow waves.

“Give me 30 seconds, we can refuel if we survive this!”

“You’re doing great, Captain,” Byul whispered from beside him. 

His trance was broken and as he looked at Byul, he saw how terrified she was and yet, she was trying to console him.

This is my team, he thought. No matter what the situation is, I need to look after them. I can’t switch off like this.

“Ok, in 10 seconds, Captain I need you to head 124 degrees. Keonhee hyung, you can start decelerating but don’t drop to below 1.”

He did as he was told and so did Keonhee, he could see the acceleration come down to 1.20 and he could feel the punch in his gut as the brakes pushed against space, causing them to slow down.

Five more seconds and this would be all over.

“Three, two, one,” Dongju counted loudly, “and we’re clear.”

Byul let out a scream of relief and Geonhak hid his face in his hand. All this time Seoho had been sat quietly beside Dongju, cross-checking his calculations. He seemed the most unphased of them all throughout this whole thing and he even let out a cheery whoop. 

“We did it!” Keonhee said, his voice higher than it normally was. “Captain, you did it!”

Dongju cleared his throat.

“You did a great job, Dongju,” Youngjo said, smiling. He felt breathless with relief. The relief was beyond anything he had ever felt. “All of you, I’m really proud of you all and I can’t thank you enough for trusting me.”

“Well, I never doubted anyone,” Seoho said brightly, clapping Dongju on the back. 

“Byul, let Control know it’s over. And ask them to find out what it was. We still need to investigate this.”

“We should have some close-up pictures from our external cameras when we passed it,” Seoho mentioned. “I’ll have a look.”

“This is ridiculous, a stray satellite,” Byul shook her head disapprovingly. “These things are dangerous.”

They carried on talking about the satellite when Youngjo realized Geonhak was standing close by him, waiting for his attention.

“Is everything okay?”

“Erm, yeah I just- I wanted to say sorry because…sorry for being difficult back there. I should’ve trusted you from the very beginning,” Geonhak reeled off apologetically.

“That’s alright, Geonhak. You guys have the right to challenge me when you think I’m making a mistake. No one is perfect and I am as prone to mistakes as the next person.” He smiled at him, hoping it would dissipate his guilt. 

“I…” Geonhak was staring at his feet, as if trying to say something that he didn’t know how to. “You’re cool,” he finally said, his ears turning bright red.   
Youngjo thought it was adorable but he didn’t want to say anything that would embarrass the younger. 

“Thank you,” he replied, patting him on the shoulder.

“Asai space station has collated all the images from the passing ships and satellites, they’re now running everything through their database to try and identify it,” Byul announced. “They’re also going to send it off to the other space stations and look into it.”

Nodding appreciatively, Youngjo said, “Drinks on me when we land on the moon.” There was a round of applause. “Keonhee, what does the diagnostics say. Did we take a hit?”

Keonhee was watching his screen closely. “Fuel wise, yes big hit. We need to refuel. But the engines look fine on preliminary diagnostics. There is a spill duct on one of the burners on engine 3 that has suffered minor wear and tear, but I think it’d be better to change it.”

“That’s a huge relief,” Youngjo said, “Get that arranged. Byul, let the Earth Control know about what happened. Also find out from Control where we can refuel.”  
He watched as his team carried out their tasks. It was strange but he felt like an adoptive dad – he’d just adopted this new family and he was responsible for them. 

They only met a few hours ago but he cared for them immensely.

“Earth Control has opened an investigation on this rogue satellite,” Byul informed. “They want the Captain’s report on what happened though. I can make a draft for you?”

He smiled at her gratefully. Byul was so efficient, he couldn’t have asked for a better First Officer.

“I’m just going to get down to engineering to have a chat with Dongheon hyung,” Keonhee said. “We need to decide how we’re going to get this spill duct changed.”

“I-er, I’ll come with you Keonhee,” Youngjo said, against his better judgement. He had been so close to losing it all and now that they were out of the danger zone, he just needed to see Yeo Hwanwoong’s face. It was a small reward he had allowed himself. “Dongju, will you sort out the refueling please? And Seoho, I think the rest of the crew will appreciate an update, if you and Geonhak could prepare an official statement to update them?”

There was chorused agreement as he and Keonhee left the bridge.

Once the door closed behind them, Keonhee hugged Youngjo, his long arms wrapping around him tightly.

“I was scared back there, dude,” he confessed. “I didn’t think I could do it.” 

Youngjo ruffled his hair. “Of course you could, Keonhee, I trusted you completely.”

“That’s what made it so hard, you know, everyone’s counting you and you can’t let them down.”

Youngjo knew exactly what he meant, he felt it too. They walked to the engineering department, holding hands as a way of comforting each other. 

They were met by Dongheon, who looked confused.

“What’s going on? What was that insane acceleration about?”

The engineering team obviously had access to the engine data so they probably had been extremely confused as to why the ship had been hurtling through space at an incredible speed. 

Keonhee explained the situation, causing Dongheon’s eyes to grow huge. 

He sighed once Keonhee had finished. “Now I see why they picked you and not me,” he said quietly, staring at the tall man, “You’ve got guts. You’re crazy but like…crazy talented.”

The chief engineer shyly waved him off. Youngjo stood beside them, trying to scan the room for any sign of Hwanwoong.

“So the damage to the spill duct in engine 3, what do you think about it?”

Dongheon shook his head. “I’m running deep diagnostics now but I think we need to go there and check it out. Might be a good idea to replace it anyway. Especially if you decide anything as crazy as what you’ve just done.”

“I hope I don’t have to,” Keonhee laughed. “But I was thinking the same, it could do with replacing. Preferably before we refuel.”

“I agree. I’ll get a team and send them to have a closer look first. Hwanwoong-ah?” he turned around and called, causing Youngjo to start.

Without any warning, his heart started hammering again. At this rate, he would have high blood pressure by the time he returned to Earth.

Hwanwoong appeared, smiling sweetly. He bowed at them, his hands gathered in front of him respectfully.

“Yeo Hwanwoong, long time!” Keonhee said enthusiastically, slapping him on the back. “I haven’t seen you in ages, since university!”

“Are you okay, Hwanwoongie?” Youngjo blurted out before he could stop himself. Everyone looked at him curiously.

“Umm, yes, why wouldn’t I be?” the younger laughed nervously. 

Keonhee filled him in while shooting furtive glances at Youngjo. He was quick-witted, he could only pray that he had not picked up anything.

“I want you to lead this team,” Dongheon said, causing Youngjo to cry, “Why?”

Once again, he was the target of their glances.

“I-I mean, isn’t it dangerous?”

“Well…we take appropriate precautions, you know,” Keonhee said.

When he didn’t look convinced, Dongheon said, “Hwanwoong is one of the best engineers here, Captain, he’ll be fine, right?”  
Hwanwoong nodded vigorously. 

“Yeah but, umm can we just not send someone else?” he insisted.

“I’ll be fine Captain,” Hwanwoong said, “This is my job.”

Dongheon raised his eyebrows at him.

“Right,” he said. 

“We’ll sort this out,” Dongheon reassured them. “I’ll keep you updated,” he told Keonhee.

They were about to leave when Youngjo turned around and said, “Be careful, Hwanwoong,” without meeting his eyes. He had embarrassed himself already but he needed the younger to know that he’d worry about him.

“So?” Keonhee asked while they were taking the lift down. 

Youngjo shrugged.

“What’s going on with you and Hwanwoong?”

“Nothing,” he said too quickly. “I mean, I know him from before.”

“And?”

“And nothing. Just caring for my crew, is that a sin?”

Keonhee smiled knowingly but didn’t say anything else, for which he was grateful because he was worried his voice was giving away too much.

“That Dongju, he’s a genius,” Keonhee changed the subject.

“Tell me about it. The entire team, honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better bridge crew.”

Keonhee laughed, throwing his head back.

“Yes, you could have. But you know what, I feel like we were babies when we took off but now we’ve grown, into toddlers.”

Youngjo kind of had to agree.


	7. Barometer

“Touch down for refuelling in 10 minutes,” Keonhee announced to the bridge. “I need a break after this.”

“Of course, we’re a bit off our break schedules, aren’t we?” Youngjo mused. “Any news on the engineering work?” As much as he was anxious about his ship, he was also worried about Hwanwoong. It was obviously silly – Hwanwoong had an engineering degree, he had been trained for things like this. Dongheon obviously trusted him enough to let him be the leader of the mission to fix the spill duct. But to Youngjo, Hwanwoong was a precious flower, to always be protected. 

“It’s ongoing, no issues so far.” Keonhee winked at him knowingly. He had probably already figured out his special interest in Hwanwoong. At least it was just   
Keonhee, who was a friend. He wouldn’t know how to explain his relationship with Hwanwoong to anyone else.

Geonhak had gone on his break since Keonhee would be required during refuelling and also to keep an eye on the repair work that was ongoing. He now returned,   
looking glum. 

“There is a child on board,” he said, to no one in particular.

Youngjo frowned. He had gone through the list of people on board – there was no child.

“Do you mean one of the trainees.”

Geonhak shook his head. “No, it was a child, a boy, and he ran away when he saw me.”

“That’s impossible, are you high?” Seoho asked, guffawing.

The combat lead raised his hand in a threatening gesture but didn’t actually hit Seoho.

“I know what I saw,” he repeated obstinately.

Youngjo turned to look at Byul questioningly.

“There’s no registered child on board,” she shrugged.

“Wait, it can’t be an actual…” Keonhee looked at them worriedly.

“Actual what?”

“You know what,” Keonhee said grimly. It didn’t look like anyone knew what he was talking about so he shrugged with frustration and said, “Ghost!”

Seoho and Byul started laughing – they obviously didn’t take it seriously. Dongju was quiet and uninterested as always.   
Youngjo turned to Geonhak. 

“And where did you see this child?”

“On corridor 5, he ran away and disappeared into one of the doors towards the end of the corridor.”

“Did you not follow him?”

“Well…no. I mean what if he was…a ghost?”

Seoho laughed so loudly that he fell to the floor.

Surprisingly, Keonhee joined him, holding his stomach, his head lolling back. That was a very different reaction to the one he had when he had assumed that it was a ghost. When he had managed to control his mirth, he looked at Geonhak and said, “Are you blind?”

Geonhak suddenly became defensive. “I can see perfectly well without my contacts…”

“Wait you wear contacts? Are you wearing them now?”

“I took them off because I wanted to nap during the break…” the volume of his voice started to become lower.

“What’s going on?” Youngjo asked confused.

Keonhee raised his eyebrow. “Corridor 5, that’s the access to the engines. He probably saw Yeo Hwanwoong at a distance, heading towards the engines, and thought he was a child.”

Youngjo gasped disbelievingly. Yeo Hwanwoong did not look like a child. Ok, maybe he was child sized at a distance but…

“Did this child happen to be wearing protective clothing?” asked Keonhee.

“Yeah,” Geonhak mumbled, “I thought it was odd.”

“I rest my case.” Keonhee took a bow.

Youngjo shook his head disapprovingly. “Put your contacts on, Geonhak.”

“Who’s Yeo Hwanwoong?” Byul asked curiously.

“He’s…” both Keonhee and Seoho started talking and stopped.

“You know him?”

Seoho nodded. “Our families used to be neighbours.” 

“Well, anyway, to answer your question Byul, he’s a very adult engineer.”

The ship touched down for refueling. Keonhee was in constant communication with the engineering team, overseeing the repair work and refuelling remotely. He was incredibly competent and Youngjo’s heart filled with pride to watch him juggling so much on the bridge. 

All of a sudden, Keonhee paused, mid-typing and looked up, with a concerned expression on his face. Without saying anything, he sent a furtive glance at Youngjo, then went back to his work.

“Do we have medics standby?” Youngjo heard him whisper, obviously trying to stop himself from being overheard.

“What’s going on Keonhee? Why do we need medics?”

The engineer clenched his teeth. “Don’t fret, there’s been a minor injury during the repair work. Medics are taking a look now, it’ll be fine.”

Youngjo’s heart turned solid. He couldn’t bear to ask who had been injured because what if he was Hwanwoong. He waited with bated breath as Keonhee arranged for medics to meet the engineer team that was in charge of the repair work. 

“He’s fine,” Keonhee turned to him. “It’s just a minor burn and-”

“Yeo Hwanwoong?”

“Yes, Captain, but-”

He didn’t wait for Keonhee to finish. He ran towards the engine access room, Keonhee shouting behind him, “He’s in the medics bay.” Changing, his course, he arrived at the medics bay at record speed, all the while hoping Hwanwoong was not in pain. They did say his injury was minor.

At the medics bay, Yeo Hwanwoong was sat on a trolley while a group of medics in white uniform tended to him. They were shouting out orders, words that didn’t really register with Youngjo.

“Sir, you can’t be here-oh Captain!” It was one off the medics. She had dark red hair with a beauty spot on her left cheek. She had an authoritative air about her. 

“Captain, what brings you here, are you alright?”

“I’m fine er-”

“Hwasa,” the medic said, “I’m the lead medic on this ship.”

He nodded at her. “I’ve just heard about the accident – is Hwanwoong, is he ok?”

Hwasa glanced at the crowd behind her. “He will be fine, Captain. He has a second degree burn to his right forearm, the spill duct leaked some acid while he was trying to fix it. We are now beginning tissue regeneration. It shouldn’t take longer than 30 minutes. And then he needs to rest up, but he will be fine.” She smiled reassuringly at him. The way she spoke made Youngjo believe everything would indeed be okay.

“Can I – could I see him for a second?”

Pressing her hands on her hips, she watched him sternly. Finally, she said, “Just one minute. After that, Captain or not, you will be thrown out of here.”

There was no doubt she would exactly as she had said, so Youngjo quickly squeezed through the other medics. He didn’t know what he had expected but Hwanwoong looked like he was bearing it well. His face was covered in sweat, his hair was askew – no doubt they had taken off his protective gear urgently. His eyes were scrunched shut, probably in pain. His right forearm however was a distressing sight – his flesh was charred and the medics had put a cold towel over it while they were getting everything else in order.

“Hwanwoongie,” his voice trembled as he reached out and touched his cheek. The younger’s eyes opened.

“Captain, what are you doing here?”

“I’m so sorry.”

“No, I should be sorry, it was my fault!”

“No, it was my fault…”

He couldn’t stop the tears even though he tried his best and even though Hwanwoong kept on saying it wasn’t his fault.

When he was finally thrown out of the medics bay for overstaying his welcome, he was still crying. Watching Hwanwoong hurt, it brought back a familiar memory. He vividly remembered it, like it was yesterday.

It was his fault, it was all his fault. It was the last time he had seen Yeo Hwanwoong all those years ago. Hwanwoong had been crying, apologizing, even though Youngjo should have been the one to apologise. There was someone else there as well – Ji Changmin – Hwanwoong’s friend, no boyfriend. It was all a mess and he had messed up. He had wanted something more with Hwanwoong, not knowing he was already taken. But because of him, Changmin had misunderstood. 

“Is he alright, Captain?” Keonhee asked. He had returned to the bridge without even thinking about it. 

“He burned his hand, but he will be okay, that’s what the medics said.”

“That’s good.” Keonhee looked sheepish. “He finished the repair work by the way, and we have refuelled. So, we are ready to go.”

“And because we had to alter our course and stop for refuelling, we don’t have to worry about the Blakan asteroid anymore,” Dongju explained.

“All good news it seems,” Byul said optimistically.

“Yes, of course.” He sighed. He needed to put this behind him and concentrate on the work at hand. “Shall we set course for the moon again, then.”

“Yes, sir,” Keonhee replied enthusiastically. 

“Earth control has been updated about everything, Captain. They are going to try and track down the rogue satellite.”

“Thanks, Byul.”

Before leaving the medics bay, he had asked Hwasa to keep him updated about Hwanwoong. She seemed very competent, so he wasn’t worried about the medical care he would receive. He just hoped he wouldn’t be in too much pain.


	8. Nightmare

“Five minutes till landing,” Byul announced.

Currently they had a good view of the moon in front of them.

“We’re finally here!” Seoho stretched his arms out, almost hitting Geonhak in the face in the process.

“It wasn’t exactly a smooth ride, but you have all done extremely well,” Youngjo said encouragingly. Earlier, he had heard good news from the medical bay. They had completed the skin regeneration process of Hwanwoong’s burnt hand and he was recovering well. It had put him at ease. 

“Contacting the Moon control, permission to land?” Byul said into the microphone.

There was static from the other side and no answer. 

“Permission to land?” she repeat, “This is Valkyrie-two-zero-one-nine, on Mission RTK666, requesting permission to land on Moon.”

“Are the communication channels between us and the Moon control open?” Youngjo asked.

“Wide open,” Dongju confirmed. “There no circuit problems either, not sure what’s going on.”

Shaking her head, Byul spoke into the microphone again. This time, the static disappeared.

“Permission granted.”

“Oh hey, finally,” Keonhee cheered from his seat. “I can’t wait to land. I’m getting space sick.”

“You do realise we will still be in space when we land on the moon, right?” Byul teased.

“Yes, I do, thank you. What I meant was I am sick of being in the bridge with you.”

Byul stuck out her lips at him but stopped when she saw Youngjo was looking at them. Perhaps because they were all so young, his bridge could be a bit childish at times.

They landed without any incident. Even though he was still worried about Hwanwoong, Youngjo was excited. He had been to the Moon before of course but this was the first time he had arrived here as the captain. 

“Docks engaged,” Keonhee stated, as the powerful hum of the engines quietened down to a more cool metallic noise.

“We need to get Hwanwoong to a hospital, give the medics priority to disembark,” Youngjo said.

“I’ll make sure the medics are doing that,” Keonhee announced, unbuckling his belt to get out of his seat.

“Actually, I’ll go with them,” Seoho offered. “You have a lot to do here, don’t you, Keonhee?”

Youngjo hesitated. Ideally, he would have liked to go with Hwanwoong but that wouldn’t be plausible as he was the captain. He trusted Keonhee - obviously he trusted Seoho as well but it was just that he knew Keonhee better and felt more comfortable with him taking care of Hwanwoong. But it was also true that Keonhee’s role was important at this moment. So in the end, he allowed Seoho to accompany Hwanwoong and the medics to the hospital. 

Once the rest of the crew had disembarked, the bridge crew made their way out of the ship and were greeted by some staff from the Moon control. 

Youngjo was not the one to judge but they looked a bit grim, unhappy even to see them, it seemed. He couldn’t recognize any of the staff even though he had been here a few times. The usual warm and friendly vibes were missing.

“Welcome to the Moon,” a tall scruffy man with an eye patch over the right eye said. “I’m the commander of the moon control, Lee Jongin.”

The commander had changed since the last time he had been here.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Kim Youngjo, the captain. This is my bridge team.” They introduced themselves one by one. 

“I’ve got a room for you guys where you can rest. I understand you’re not staying long?” Jongin asked eagerly.

“No, just whatever time it takes to unload the supplies. And then we’re off.”

“Wonderful,” he replied enthusiastically. He had a sheepish look about him, his one eye darting swiftly between them and the rest of the staff from the Moon control.  
One of the younger staff members with blue hair and swept over his eyes offered to show them to their room. They gladly agreed.

“Oh by the way, one of our crew has been hurt on the way here-”

“He’s been taken to the hospital along with your medical team,” Jongin assured, before turning their back on him and walking away.

They followed the blue-haired man through a lot of tunnels and bridges that were dimly lit. That was strange, Youngjo thought. He didn’t remember taking this route the last time. 

“I’m sure we would have enjoyed the view overground,” he commented lightly.

The blue-haired man shook his head. “There is a dust storm scheduled soon, it’s better we take the underground path.”

“What’s your name?” Keonhee asked kindly.

“Cya,” the man said, without offering any other information.

They were led to what looked like a large dusty suite with doors to five bedrooms. 

“Freshen up, I’ll bring you some refreshments.”

Before they could thank him, Cya hurried off, shutting the door behind him.

“I’ve never been brought to the travelers’ quarters via the underground route before,” Keonhee mused, looking around the suite.

There were two sets of sofa, both very dusty. By the looks of it, the room had been furnished in a hurry with mismatched furniture bearing stains that had not been cleaned.

“Yeah it’s not protocol.” 

There was frown on Geonhak’s face. “I’ve seen that man before, Lee Jongin,” he muttered. “I’m sure I have, I just don’t know where.”

“He wasn’t the commander last year,” Youngjo mentioned. He remembered the jovial, round-bellied commander who had fed him sweets until he had turned sick.   
“Well, I need to go and pee,” Keonhee said, heading towards the toilet.

After about twenty minutes, Cya returned with a tray of food that he almost slammed down on the dirty table and left before they could ask him anything.

“Not exactly a warm welcome, is it?” Dongju asked, picking up a mouldy looking bread from the tray.

“We’re bringing them supplies, doing them a favour, this is ridiculous,” Keonhee complained. “I’m not eating this food, good thing I brought the snacks.” 

“We will be out here soon guys,” Youngjo reminded them. He did feel a bit down being treated like this on his first mission as a captain. Hang on, he wondered, were they being treated this way because of him? Because the Moon control had heard about him and how his captaincy was opposed by many powerful people on Earth?  
Keonhee brought out a handful of packeted chocolate cakes and handed them around.

“I hope Hwanwoong is doing ok,” he said absentmindedly.

“I should go and see him,” Youngjo said, getting to his feet immediately.

Keonhee placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure he is ok, Seoho is with him. Besides, you’ll probably only be a hindrance to the medics if you go now.”

Instead of going into the individual rooms they stayed in the large drawing room. Geonhak was playing a game on his comms device. Byul and Keonhee were arguing about which aliens gossiped the most while Dongju watched them in amused silence. Unconsciously, a smile lit up Youngjo’s face. He realised how attached he had already become to his team. He felt father-like pride bubble under his skin.

In fact, he was attached to everyone in the ship. But probably no one more than Hwanwoong. He had let him go once. He had dropped his hand and turned his back on him. It still seemed like only yesterday, although the pain was perhaps duller now.

He had gone to visit Hwanwoong at his student quarter, heart beating fast, anticipation in his chest. It was the day he had finally decided to confess his feelings to Hwanwoong. He had mustered up all his courage, ready to come face to face with his true emotions. 

“Hwanwoong-ah, I need to tell you something,” he had said, trying to contain the excitement in his voice. However, Hwanwoong had looked nervous. When he had looked at him closely, he could see his eyes were red, as if he had been crying.

“So this is why you want to break up? Because you’ve been cheating on me?”

Changmin, the guy he had seen with Hwanwoong a couple of times before, had come out of the room, looking livid.

“H-hwanwoong?” he had asked, confused.

“You shouldn’t have come,” Hwanwoong told him, biting his lips. He then turned to Changmin. “I didn’t cheat on you. We’re just friends.”

While that was true, it had hurt Youngjo. Yes, they were friends, but he had wanted to be more. But he had no idea that Hwanwoong was already someone else’s. How had he not realized, or ever asked him if he was single?

“Is that right?” Changmin had asked, glaring at Youngjo.

Hwanwoong had looked at him expectantly. For a second, he thought that the younger wanted him to take his hand, to confess. But Youngjo didn’t have the courage to do that. He had dropped the younger’s hand, and turned around, running away from the man he loved.

If that day he had indeed confessed, who knew where would they have been now. Would Hwanwoong have taken his hand, broken up with Changmin? A couple of months later, he had heard that Hwanwoong had broken up with his boyfriend. But he had never gone back. Instead, he had escaped. 

An alarm went off on Byul’s device.

“Well, that’s it then, unloading should be complete.”

“Great, I hate being here,” Geonhak said, jumping to his feet. He walked over to the door and pulled it hard. The door did not budge.

“What an idiot,” Dongju exclaimed before pressing the release button next to the door. 

To Geonhak’s amusement, nothing happened.

“What the hell?” 

Dongju tried to pull on the door but there was no result.

“I think we’re locked in,” he said.

Keonhee and Byul went next, trying several techniques to pry the door open but nothing worked. Geonhak even threw his strength against the door in full force to no end.

“This is so strange. Why would they lock us in a room?”

“Worst hospitality ever,” Keonhee said.

Youngjo frowned. There was nothing in the room to call for help or to communicate with anyone. He asked Byul to try and contact the ship on her comms device.  
“Maybe it was a mistake?” Keonhee wondered.

“It wasn’t a mistake,” Dongju announced gravely.

“How do you know?”

He turned the screen of his comms device around to show them a picture. It was a mugshot of a man.

“Oh shoot!” Geonhak exclaimed. “This is the same man, the commander!”

“I don’t understand, how can the commander of the Moon control be a convicted criminal?”

Dread filled Youngjo’s consciousness. He realized the danger they were in, that they had willingly walked into. 

“Lunar Max,” he muttered, causing everyone to gasp.

The Moon did not have a lot of establishments. The main structure was Lunar Max, the highest security prison where the most condemned criminals were sent to live out their sentences. It was known to be virtually indestructible. But if a convicted criminal was posing as the commander of the Moon control, it could mean only one thing. 

“Prisonbreak,” Byul said, biting her lips. “How do we…what do we do?”

“I knew he looked familiar, why didn’t I remember who he was?” Geonhak punched the wall angrily, causing a piece of the plaster fall off.

“It’s okay, we need to think. We can-we can get out.” Youngjo was trying not to let the panic get upper hand. It was just another challenge on their journey that they had to overcome.

“It sucks that our chief strategist is not here,” Dongju said morosely.

“Keonhee trying to contact Seoho, he should have his comms device.”

They were locked here but what happened to the rest of the crew? What happened to Hwanwoong and Seoho, who had been supposedly taken to the hospital?

“What do they want?” Byul asked, pacing anxiously.

“Well the fact that they haven’t killed us already is reassuring.”

They didn’t know anything about when and how these prisoners had escaped but it was obvious they had taken control of the Moon. It explained why they had trouble getting through to the control. But they had kept the channel with outside vehicles and the Earth open, which meant that their goal was not to stay on the Moon permanently. They would want to escape from here, and luckily for them, Youngjo’s ship was conveniently docked on their doorstep. However, they would need someone to steer the ship, they would need a crew to steer such a high-functioning ship. Was that why they had been kept alive?

“I can’t get through to anyone,” Keonhee said defeatedly. “All communication channels had been cut off. There is no one out there who can help.”

It took a moment for the words to register. Geonhak started to press buttons on his comms device, as if he couldn’t believe it. Byul hid her face in her hands.

There were stranded here, unable to communicate with anyone. They didn’t have any weapons with them as they did not think they would need any in this situation. Youngjo felt that it was his fault – he should have assessed the situation better. He should have read between the lines. The stray satellite, the delay in contacting the Moon control – he should have known something was wrong and he should have been careful. He had let his team down.

There was a knock at the door suddenly. They all looked up, aware that this might be their only chance to talk to someone, negotiate with them.

“Come in,” he said, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible. He nodded towards Geonhak, signalling him silently. If someone opened the door, they would take them down.

The knocking stopped but the door did not open.

“I-you-this is a trap.” The voice was familiar. 

“Cya, is that you?” Keonhee called out.

It was the younger man who had showed them to the room earlier.

“I’m sorry, I had to do it because-because-”

“It’s ok, we know there’s been a prison breakout and the bad guys are in charge,” Youngjo said kindly. They needed Cya on their side – it was the only way to escape. “We don’t blame you, but can you help us?”

“I-I can’t they will find out.” He could hear fear in his voice. These people were obviously a force to be reckoned with.

“Cya, please, we can protect you from them,” Keonhee said gently. “Can you tell us how it happened?”

There was a long pause, during which he thought Cya had left. But then he finally started talking. 

“There was a glitch in the security system of Lunar Max,” he said, his voice quiet. “I think-I think someone had hacked into the system. They stormed the guards and so many of them died but they killed most of the guards. The rest of them were locked up. It was a massacre.” Cya’s breath sounded ragged. “When they heard a ship was coming with supplies, they panicked and sent a satellite or something to bring the ship down. But when you guys managed to avoid it, they had another plan.”

“They want to escape with our ship?” Keonhee asked.

“Yes. There isn’t a big enough ship that would carry all of them away on the Moon, so they’ll use your ship.”

“Do you know where the rest of the crew are?” Youngjo said. His heart quickened at the thought of what they would have done to his crew.

“They are all locked up in the ship. They want to sell them off as slaves on Neptune.”

At least they were alive, there was time to save them. 

“What about-what about the medics and the patient?” he had to work extra hard to control his voice. 

“I think they are being kept in the hospital, I don’t know.” Cya sounded more anxious. “I have to go now. They’ll look for me.”

“Wait, Cya, you need to help us,” he pleaded.

“I-I can’t!”

There was sound of running feet and there was no more response from Cya.

“What do we do, Captain?”

His crew were looking at him, asking for orders. Youngjo’s insides were trembling. This was not how it was supposed to be. Everything had gone wrong. If there was a better Captain than him leading this ship, maybe it would not have happened.

“I’m sorry I have failed you,” he said, shaking his head.

Everyone exchanged looks.

“You haven’t failed us yet, Captain,” Keonhee said, smiling at him. “It’s not over till it’s over, right? Just tell us what to do next.”


	9. Escape

Youngjo took a deep breath. It was his job to make sure he brought his crew back safely to Earth, no man or woman left behind. It was his responsibility, as a Captain. Now was not the time to give up.

“Geonhak, Dongju, look for any other way out of this suite. Any windows, vents, anything. Byul and Keonhee, see if you can contact anyone – any nearby space station or control centre or Earth. Send out a distress signal if possible.”

“Yes, Captain,” they said in unison before getting busy with the tasks they had been given. He studied the door carefully – it didn’t look like it could be forced open. 

“All communication channels have been shut down,” Keonhee huffed. “They are probably using some kind of signal blocker as well. But,” he looked up with a glint in his eyes, “I may be able to find a back channel to send a message. It will take time but it is possible.”

“Good job!” Youngjo said encouragingly. “We need to speak to Cya again, we need his help to get out.” 

“They have chosen a good place to imprison us, no windows, trap doors, vents in sight,” Geonhak commented glumly. “None of these walls will take any physical damage.”

“Right, right,” he took a few more slow breaths, trying to think. “Keonhee is trying to send a message but it isn’t quick enough. We need to be able to talk to them to negotiate. When will they approach us?”

“Probably soon. Unless they are trying to wrap up things here before leaving. Not sure what their plan is,” Dongju said in a monotone.

“But we don’t have any weapons and they will most certainly be armed. Not sure how we’re going to take them,” Byul punched her hand in frustration.

“Well, we’re not completely empty-handed,” Dongju said slowly.

“What do you mean?” Youngjo asked sharply.

Dongju crossed his arms. “I know it’s against regulations but I always carry this with me – I've got major trust issues.” He took out a handgun from his inner pocket. 

“How have you never gotten caught before?” Keonhee asked, amazed.

“Virtually undetectable, as you can see it’s very small and light.” He shrugged his shoulder proudly.

“I should be mad at you for not following regulations but this time, it just might save our lives.”

Smiling, Dongju pocketed the gun. “So what’s next?”

“We wait for them to come to us. Let’s see what they’re offering. Depending on that, we will come up with a plan.”

“The longer we wait, the more chances they have to mess with Seoho, and the others,” Geonhak reminded them.

“I think Seoho can take care of himself,” Keonhee assured.

“Against armed hooligans? Fat chance.”

After about half an hour, during which Keonhee was trying to send the distress signal, there was a sound outside their door. Youngjo met the eyes of his team, telling them to brace. The door finally opened and Lee Jongin entered, followed by a group of grimacing people. They looked like a formidable force.

“I guess you’ve realized you are prisoners now?” Lee Jongin smiled crookedly.

“And I hope you’ve realized you can’t go anywhere using our ship without the crew?” Youngjo knew he had to come off strong – that was the only way to deal with these hardened criminals.

Lee Jongin glared at him.

“These kids have been on plenty of ships before, don't try to play smart," he sneered.

"Sure, but have they ever piloted a state-of-the-art 3rd generation passenger vessel? This ship is more complex than any smaller ships and battleships you've ever been on put together."

One of the goons whispered something in Jongin's ear, making him frown.

"Surely, I don’t need all of your crew? I just need the Captain.”

“Firstly, that ship out there is a 3rd generation 2nd tier airship, run by the Max-Lute programme. There is no way you can run that ship without the minimum bridge crew, which is all of us here.” He waved at his team. “Secondly, who says the Captain is going to do anything you say if you don’t assure him the safety of his crew?” Youngjo met the prisoner’s glare with the same intensity.

“I see you’ll be a hard nut to crack, but that is my boys’ specialty.” One of the prisoners cracked their knuckles menacingly whereas another man licked a knife, sneering.

“Ah, but you don’t have time.” This was not the time to be weak or show fear. “We sent out a distress signal when we saw the rogue satellite. If the Earth control does not receive any communication from us for very long, they’ll know something is wrong and send patrolling ships to see what’s happening here.”

It was true that if the communication was down for longer than 45 minutes, the Earth control will try other ways to determine what had happened. They would try to contact the Moon control first for a status report as they would be able to see that their ship had indeed landed here. If the Moon control played their cards right, they would probably be able to buy some time before Earth control got suspicious. However, he needed them to think that they didn’t have much time.

One of the goons whispered to Jongin, “But we haven’t managed to free Nino and his mates yet.”

“Shut up!” Lee Jongin looked troubled, but only for a second. “Fine, what do you want?”

“I want you to put all my crew in that airship and only then will I fly you out of here.”

Lee Jongin’s eyes raked his body, from his head to his toe.

“Boss, that’s not what-” one of the men started to say but Lee Jongin shushed him urgently.

“Deal. That gives us more hostages anyway.” He turned around to leave. “We are going to leave in twenty minutes. If you try to trick us in anyway once you’re on the ship, I will kill you all bare-handed.”

“Some of my crew are with the medics. You need to put them on the ship as well,” Youngjo reminded him before the door closed with a slam.

“Okay, okay,” Youngjo fell onto the floor, reeling from the nerves of that negotiation. He had been in battles, he had fought goons but he had never faced this sort of situation where they were trapped and they had to negotiate their way through.

“Well done, Captain,” Keonhee said, clapping him on the back. “You might just have gotten us out of here alive.”

“What’s the plan now?” Geonhak asked.

“We can either overpower them on the way when they take us to the ship or when we are on the ship,” Byul suggested nervously.

“We will do it once we are on the ship. They won’t be able to open the armoury. We have to somehow sneak away from the bridge and prepare an attack.”

“Shouldn’t we just take them here?” Geonhak asked angrily. “We don’t know how many of them will be on the ship.”

“I agree with the Captain,” Dongju interjected. “The ship is our playing ground, puts us at an advantage compared to here. No matter how many of them board the ship, we will be able to outwit them.”

“They haven’t all escaped by the sounds of it,” Byul commented, “I think they are still trying to free some of their mates who are in jail.”

“You’re right, Byul. I think they will try to see if they can free them in the next 20 minutes. If not, they’ll leave them behind.” Youngjo got to his feet. “We should think about what we should do when we get on the ship.”

He would need to make sure that all the crew was onboard, including Hwanwoong and Seoho. Hopefully, they had given Hwanwoong some sort of medical attention, even if they hadn’t taken him to the hospital. He wasn’t sure what was happening to the rest of the Moon – very likely that the runaway prisoners had taken control of everything. There wasn’t much on the Moon apart from Lunar Max and the Moon Control. There was a small hospital and a dilapidated rest house which sometimes had visitors. None of them had contacted Earth about a hostile takeover so the goons must have jammed all communications Moon-wide.

While Geonhak dropped on the floor to do push-ups, he constructed a plan with Byul, Keonhee, and Dongju on how to get their hands on their weapons and start an attack. They were finishing up the final touches, when there were noises outside the door. Alert, they all sat away from each other, so as to not look suspicious. 

The door finally opened and it was Cya. But there was something wrong. He looked fear-stricken and had his arms raised above his head. Someone pushed him inside and then entered after him.

“Seoho!” Geonhak shouted.

The strategist quickly shut the door behind him.

“Well team, it’s good to see you all again,” Seoho said, sparing a smile, the gun in his hand pointed straight at Cya.

“What-how?” Byul was at a loss of words.

“Well, these thugs didn’t realise you can’t lock Lee Seoho up.”

“How’s Hwanwoong?” Youngjo asked eagerly.

“Thanks for asking how I am,” Seoho joked. “He is fine, don’t worry, Hwasa and her team are looking after him.”

“Tell us what happened. How did you realise it was a trap?”

Seoho gestured at Cya to sit down between Keonhee and Byul and he sat down himself on a sofa opposite, putting his gun down.

“It seemed suspicious from the very beginning. We were being escorted out of the ship and the men who were with us didn’t look like they had any idea how to unlock the doors and were very hesitant about how they were putting in codes etc. When they didn’t take us to the hospital and put us in an empty room, saying it was the ‘medics bay’, I knew it was a trap. I couldn’t contact any of you, communications systems jammed. Lunar Max is in the vicinity and the Moon control has been taken over, someone tried to stop us from reaching the Moon with the satellite, I put two and two together pretty quickly.”

They listened without interrupting, thoroughly impressed by Seoho’s detection skills. There was a reason why he had beat out several seasoned strategists to become the chief strategist on this mission. 

“The next part was harder,” Seoho said, crossing his legs. “I had to fake a fire in the room to draw some of the thugs in and put them out of action, borrowed their clothes. I used one of their communication devices to listen in to what they were plotting. Only heard bits and bobs but enough to piece together what they were planning anyway. I used the blueprint of this place to figure out where they could be keeping you. This was the most isolated place in the control centre, no trap doors and no vents. And therefore, I’m here.”

“It took you that long to find us?” Geonhak asked, disgruntled.

“I made some stops on the way, obviously, you chicken.” Geonhak’s eye widened and he was about to take a swipe at Seoho until Youngjo glared at him. “I had to look through the blueprint to find this place, figure out where the guards were positioned, and looked through the armoury.”

“How did you find a blueprint of the Moon control?” Byul asked.

“I always carry a blueprint of the place I’m going to, a paper one just in case electronic devices don’t work. Don’t you?” 

They all shook their heads.

“I suppose that’s why I’m the strategist.”

“So wait, you took the men out in your room with bare hands?” Keonhhe asked, impressed.

“Not completely empty.” He took a handgun out of his pocket and showed it to them; it was identical to Dongju’s.

“Great, do nany of you follow the regulations?” Youngjo groaned.

Seoho looked surprised.

“Dongju has the same gun,” Byul explained.

“Hey, you can’t trust anyone.”

“That’s what I said,” Dongju said, smirking.

“Anyway, what are we doing next? We need to get a move on, we’re almost reaching the twenty minutes,” Byul said.

They quickly explained to Seoho what they had agreed with Lee Jongin and had planned.

Shaking his head, Seoho said, “We can’t let them board the ship. I’ve got a plan.”

He opened up the map he was carrying in his pocket in front of them, placing it flat against the floor. There were already some markings he had made. 

“We need to get to the ship, I’ll find you the route of least resistance.”

“What about the rest of the crew?” Youngjo queried. “We can’t leave them behind.”

“They’ve already been loaded onto the ship, I heard the order being given on the communication device.”

“Including Hwanwoong and the medics?”

Seoho hummed. “Probably not, I don’t think they think they’re important at all because they’re medics. They kind of ignored us all, they didn’t realise I am a bridge crew.”

“We can’t leave without them,” Youngjo said with conviction.

“Okay, new plan. You guys follow my old plan, I will go and get them.”

“No, not you, I’ll go,” Geonhak said earnestly, then blushed when everyone looked at him. “I mean-I don’t think you have any more fight left in you, you’re a weakling,” he almost mumbled the last words as if even he was having trouble keeping up this façade.

“Well, Mr Muscle, unlike you, I know the way pretty well now, so it will make most sense for me to go. I have memorized the blueprint as well, so I don’t need it.” Seeing Youngjo hesitate, Seoho added, “Trust me, I can do this, I will bring back Hwanwoong safe.”

“I mean I want everyone safe obviously-”

It seemed like Seoho had also caught onto the fact that he may have a weak spot for Hwanwoong.

“I know, Captain,” Seoho assured him. “We will all be safe.”

“Right,” Youngjo nodded, saying a quick prayer for his team. “What do we have to do?”

“Your first stop will be the armoury, which is here,” Seoho pointed out on the map. “You shouldn’t face any resistance on the way, these dumbos have left the armoury unguarded. Pick up weapons, I would suggest something heavy-duty but quieter. I don’t know how many of these thugs are around but your best chance is to make sure you alert as less people as possible, a stealth operation, if you will.”

They all nodded. It made sense to move quietly so that the other party didn’t know that something was wrong. 

“Next, you need to bypass the control centre here,” he tapped on the map, “take route 2 around it instead, and this will bring you to the ship. Now, the ship will almost certainly be guarded, so this is where you need to be careful. It will be a difficult fight, they are heavily armed. The armoury looked like it had been raided but I think you can take them,” he nodded at Geonhak, who nodded solemnly. For the first time, they were not bickering but respecting each other’s strengths. “Someone needs to take care of the security cameras, Keonhee?” 

“I should be able to run a quick programme to disable them as we approach them,” Keonhee confirmed.

“Perfect. Anything else?”

Youngjo ran through the plan once again. Seoho had obviously come up with the best plan possible based on the little information they had. The rest was up to their wit, training, and survival instinct. 

“Have you got a plan for yourself?” he asked Seoho.

He nodded. “Yes, hopefully, you will keep most of them occupied. I will sneak back to the room where they’re being kept, gather them, and run back to the ship. That’s where these communications devices come in. I have one, you should take the boy’s.” 

He gestured towards Cya, who shuddered a little.

“What do we do with him?” Geonhak asked.

“Please take me with you, I’m sorry, I was forced to do this. They said they will kill me if I don't listen to them.” Cya bowed deeply on the floor. 

“Did you originally work here in the Moon control?”

“Yes, I was just the secretary.”

“What did they do with the rest of the staff?”

“They took them to Lunar Max, they’re holding them there.”

“Once we escape, they will know they’re not safe here anymore. They might do something rash, there are still people here.”

“They won’t all be able to escape, they don’t have big ships here, enough to carry all of them. But we can raise the alert so that any ship leaving the Moon can be followed and forced to land,” Seoho explained.

“You have the answer to everything,” Byul said, smiling.

“Don’t make his already big head bigger,” Geonhak added.

“I don’t need other people to say I’m smart, I know I am.” Seoho winked. “Right, we should get going now.”

“Thanks, Seoho,” Youngjo shook his hand. “We will see you on the ship.”

“Just in case Captain, if we don’t make it, just go. I will keep them safe, I promise. But you need to leave and alert the authorities. That’s the best way you can help us.”

“That won’t happen-”

“I’m just saying, I need to think about all options.”

Youngjo clapped his hands on his shoulders, shaking them a little. “We will see you on the ship, Seoho. Look after them.”


	10. One Way Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to dedicate this chapter to Regenbogen_6 who's always commenting on all my fics. Thank you. I do enjoy writing ONEUS fics but the comments always puts a smile on my face and lets me know other people are enjoying reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Youngjo usually had the ability to remain calm in high-stakes situations. Every good leader needed this skill. Right now, everything depended on them being able to keep a cool head.

Their main problem was they didn’t know where they would face foes on the way. Besides, they would need to run this like a stealth mission, drawing as little attention to them as possible, as they were not equipped for a full-blown battle. If all the escaped prisoners charged at them at the same time, they would be inundated.

Three of them were fully-trained combat troopers – Geonhak, Byul, and himself. The rest would have had some basic combat and weapon skills as it was compulsory for all who would ever set foot on an airship but they were in no way fighters. It would make sense for the combat troopers to lead while the rest followed.

“How do you want to play it?” he asked Geonhak.

“I’ll go first, Captain, you can come right after me. Byul, I need you to be at the very end, bring up the rear. How are you two with weapons?” He eyed Keonhee and Dongju.

“I’m comfortable with a gun,” Dongju said airily. “Not great with hand-to-hand combat, I’m not much for exercise.”

“I don’t mind getting my hands dirty,” Keonhee replied.

“Captain and I will try and take down if any of the adversaries as we meet them, as quietly as we can. You guys might need to give back-up. Dongju needs to be in the front with us, guiding us. Byul, I need you to be on the lookout from behind, the last thing we want is to be trapped from both ways and get any of us injured. Will you be okay by yourself at the back?”

“I am a combat trooper, you know,” Byul huffed. “I just need to steady my nerves.”

“I suppose it’s not much of a plan but it’s all we got given we don’t know much. You guys in the middle take Cya with you. We are not giving him a weapon obviously. Dongju, you carry the communication device Seoho got us, keep an ear on what orders they are sending. Let’s go.”

They all looked at Youngjo expectantly for the order. He looked at his team, all pale faced, except Geonhak, who was getting quite red in the face. His blood was already rushing everywhere, he was ready for war. 

“Remember, the first rule is preservation of life, ours in this case. We won’t be able to avoid casualty in this mission, unfortunately, but we have to absolutely make sure we make it out alive, okay? Look after yourselves and each other.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Saying a quick prayer under his breath, Youngjo gave them the order to move out.

Their first destination was the armoury. Having studied the map quickly, Dongju was able to lead them. On the last corridor just before they rounded onto the armoury, he paused and looked at Geonhak. Shushing them with his finger, Geonhak gestured them to wait while he inched forward and peeked around the wall. When he returned to them, he held up four fingers to show that there were four thugs guarding the armoury.

That was strange, Seoho had said that he had found it unguarded before. This meant that they had found out about Seoho breaking out and had tightened the security. Or they could be loading some weapons from the armoury into the ship. Either way, this wasn’t good.

Geonhak waved Byul to the front of the line – they would need more fighters up at the front now that they knew they were facing at least four people.  
The combat lead gave them a silent countdown and on one, the three of them rushed forward.

The first few seconds were hazy in Youngjo’s mind but he quickly adjusted to the dim lighting in the corridor, training his eyes on the men ahead. They managed to run quietly and had the element of surprise – he landed a punch on the first man’s face before he could reach for his phaser. While the man reeled backwards from the force, he launched himself forward and grabbed his phaser, shooting him in the stomach. Unfortunately, it made a loud sound that ricocheted through the corridor. As he turned to look for his next victim, he saw Geonhak had his boots on top of a man on the floor while he was choking another with his hands and Byul had disarmed the fourth man and knocked him out. 

When they gave them the all-clear, the rest of the team joined them. They pushed through the door into the armoury and quickly armed themselves. Youngjo chose a heavy-duty phaser with a silencer attached and a laser saber, putting a few smoke grenades in his pocket for good measure.

Once they were all done arming themselves, they restarted the journey. Dongju once again was guiding them, this time to the ship. They had to move slowly, so as not to walk into adversaries on the way. Geonhak and Youngjo took turns to scout the bends and the edges. Keonhee was dutifully disengaging all the security cameras as they went.

They were lucky while passing the rest of the corridors but just as they were about to reach the lifts that would take them to the ground level, they heard voices.

“I think two,” Geonhak whispered to him.

“More than two, I can hear at least four pairs of feet,” he whispered back.

“We’re going to rush them,” Geonhak told them, “You two please don’t aim at any of us,” he warned Keonhee and Dongju, who looked affronted but didn’t say anything.

Once again, on Geonhak’s signal, they rushed forward, Youngjo aiming his phaser at one of the men and watching him drop to the ground. He was right – there were six men in front of the lift, all armed. He could see one of them was trying to speak into his communication device to warn the others. A well-aimed kick from Byul sent the communication device flying as she jumped onto his chest, bringing him down to the floor and discharging her phaser in the middle of his chest.

Two more men went crumpling down as Geonhak unleashed his wrath on them. Youngjo was face to face with a mean-looking man with broad shoulders and biceps the size of thighs. As he tried to aim his phaser at him, the man grabbed his hand with the strength of an ox, causing the phaser to fall from his limp hand. This man was definitely way stronger than him but he wasn’t about to give up. He quickly slunk his leg between his and pushed out, hoping to cause the man to lose his balance and fall. However, this man was like a rock and he felt no give as his leg made contact with the man’s. 

“Puny human, you really thought you could win against me?”

“Yes, I do believe I can.”

Taking a deep breath, he used one of his favourite techniques to overcome opponents who are stronger than you – he used the man’s body to walk upwards, vertically, and using the force of his body and gravity, he rolled backwards, causing the man, who was holding onto his hand, to fall face-first as well. However, it backfired. As Youngjo's body hit the floor with a thud, the man’s body came crashing down upon him, knocking the breath out of him. Even though he had caught his opponent by surprise, the mountain-like weight on him meant that he wouldn’t be able to move. Frantically he searched for his phaser when the man recovered from the fall and went straight for his throat. He could feel hands the size of dinner plates gripped his throat in a steely lock, squeezing the life out of him. He couldn’t breathe and his sight was blurry from the lack of oxygen. As he felt the last bit of air squeezed out of him, he saw someone jump onto the man’s back, pushing something into his back and causing him to scream in pain. The grip on his throat loosened slightly.

“Captain, move your head!” he heard someone shout and it dimly registered in his mind. With difficulty, he moved his head away from where the man’s head was hovering above him. The next second, he heard the man groan again, roaring loudly like a wounded animal. He quickly put his hands over his mouth, muffling the sound. The man thrashed about for about ten seconds, then fell very still. To the right of him, just about 10cm from where his was, he saw a hole in the ground where a phaser had been discharged. 

“Someone give me a hand, the Captain in trapped under him.”

The weight was lifted off of him and he could breathe again. He gulped the cold air eagerly, feeling his senses going back to normal.

“Are you okay, Captain?” Keonhee was sitting beside him, running his hand through his hair with concerned eyes.

“I’m…fine,” he managed to say, his throat feeling sore. “Thanks Keonhee, you saved my life.”

“Did you have to take on the biggest jerk here, you should have saved him for me,” Geonhak offered him a hand which he gladly took. He pulled him up effortlessly, then put his hands on his waist to steady him.

“I’m fine, I promise,” he smiled bleakly at his team. “Everyone else okay?”

Cya was hiding beside the lift, his face in his hands. Everyone else looked like they were in one piece. There were six bodies lying around them.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t managed to keep it down very much,” Byul said, shaking dust off her hands. 

“Well, at least we’re all in one piece.”

They got onto the lift, which took them to the ground floor. They made their way through a tunnel and then a few more corridors before they reached the access strip that led to the dock. 

“There will definitely be a lot more people at the dock,” Geonhak warned them.

“It is what it is,” Youngjo said, straightening his jacket. Turning to his team, he said in a low voice, “I have complete faith in you. Remember, look after each other and yourselves.”

They all nodded. 

They managed to cross the access strip without trouble. There was just one wandering man who was quickly taken down by Geonhak before he even saw them coming. However, as they reached the end of the access strip, they could see a throng of people at the dock, just in front of their ship. Some of them seemed to be waiting, whereas others were loading boxes onto the ship.

“Have you disabled the security cameras, Keonhee?” Geonhak asked.

“All disabled. They will just play the footage from the last 15 seconds on loop.”

“All hands on deck, I suppose, then. There isn’t any specific plan, just try and be as quiet as possible, priority is to stop them from sending a message to the others, so look out for that. They seem a lot more heavily armed than the last groups, so be careful. Captain, Keonhee, and I will attack them from the right. Byul, you and Dongju attack them from the left.”

They all nodded to confirm their orders. 

Youngjo’s heart sped up again. He was a bit shaken from his last encounter with death – he had been so close to dying. But he reminded himself that he had a team who would look after him. All he could do was trust them. Wiping off the sweat from his forehead, he grabbed his phaser tightly.

Geonhak gave them the silent countdown again and on one, he leapt from behind the wall and rushed towards the group of men. They went at them with their guns blazing, quite literally. He watched as several men fell to the ground while others started to fire back. He pushed Keonhee to the side as he watched a beam of laser coming at them and ducked out of its path. He saw a laser blade aimed for him and moved away but it caught his hand at the last second and his grip loosened, causing his phaser to drop to the floor. As the laser blade aimed at him again, he pulled out his own laser blade. The two blades clashed noiselessly. He could feel the force bearing down on him but he pushed back. He thought he heard Dongju in the distance. 

I need to help him, he thought, I need to be there for my team. He gathered his strength and pushed harder, causing the other blade to fly off its owner. He made quick work of thrusting the blade into the man, who collapsed.

There was no time to look around. Two men attacked him, both carrying laser blades. He kicked one of them to the ground while driving the blade into the other man. He quickly relieved the dying man of his phaser and shot it straight at the other adversary flailing about on the ground.

The next person he faced was a woman – she was beautiful, with long hair tied in a ponytail. 

“Don’t kill me,” she whimpered. 

“You need to move out of the way ma'am-”

In that second of distraction, the woman lashed at him with a dagger she had been hiding behind her back. Youngjo felt a stinging sensation on his left shoulder and as he put a hand on his shoulder to stem the flow of blood, he could hear the woman giggle and swing at him again, this time aiming for his neck. However, the victorious look on her face changed into that of shock as the dagger fell from her hand and she fell headfirst. 

Byul was standing right behind her, her phaser in her hand.

“Seriously Captain, you know women can be crooks as well right?” she said, before fending off two more girls in leather suits charging at her. 

Gritting his teeth, he attacked the next man ferociously, thinking of how stupid he had been. He could have cost them someone’s life.

He fought through the adversaries, the pain in his shoulder making its presence known now and then. But the adrenaline running through his vein drove him like a wild animal. No one, no one would hurt his team, not on his watch.

“He’s getting away,” someone shouted in the distance. He could see Byul, Geonhak, and Dongju all shooting their phasers at a man who was running rapidly across the access strip. However, none of their shots made contact and the man disappeared behind a wall.

“We need to move now,” Youngjo said, “he is going to alert everyone!”

They clambered onto the ship and was met by one of the combat troopers with dishevelled hair and a panicked look in his eyes.

“Sir, what’s going on? Those men were loading all these weapons on the ship, he said he had you all hostage and would kill us if we protested.”

“It’s fine, Hyunjae,” Geonhak said, putting a hand on the trooper's shoulder. “They are prisoners from Lunar Max, who’s taken over Moon Control.”

Hyunjae’s face drained of all colour.

“What do we do now?” he cried, wringing his hand like a child.

“Did you forget you’re a combat trooper?”

“Oh yes, sorry sir.” He stood at attention, looking thoroughly embarrassed. “Reporting for duty. I mean, awaiting ordersm sir.”

“Go back, get all the troopers ready. Get armed. Await order from the bridge. And take him, he is a prisoner.” He pushed Cya towards him.

“Yes sir. Captain,” he bowed at Youngjo, before rushing off with Cya to follow Geonhak’s orders.

“He’s the youngest trooper,” Geonhak explained before anyone could say anything.

They made their way to the bridge speedily. It was empty. 

“Where’s Seoho?”

Keonhee immediately tried to contact Seoho on the communication device but there was no answer. Youngjo felt like all the oxygen was drawn out of the air. Had Seoho not managed to get Hwanwoong and the medics on board?

“I’ll check the medics bay,” Keonhee offered but Byul turned him down.

“You get things going for take-off, I’ll check.”

“We can’t leave without them,” Youngjo said.

“But Captain, if we don’t leave now, we won’t be able to leave, they’re going to come back they’re going to fire at us. Lunar Max has 10, 000 prisoners, even if half of them were freed, we will be outnumbered,” Dongju reasoned.

“We can’t leave anyone behind!” Youngjo reaffirmed. He was starting to feel angry. 

Byul returned, confirming that Seoho and the medics had not made in onto the ship. 

“We can come back for them. As soon as we are in space, we can send the distress signal and ask for evacuation of our team members from Moon,” she suggested.

“Anything could happen to them in that time. The fact that they haven’t made it onboard means they got found out. We need to save them before something terrible happens to them.” He swallowed bile as he thought about how the thugs would treat them, knowing they had just been double-crossed. Hwanwoong’s innocent face flashed before his eyes. “We have to save them.”

“What about us, Captain? What about all the people on this ship?” Dongju asked coldly. “Will you throw away our safety?”

“Besides,” Byul rationalised, “That’s exactly what our chief strategist told us to do.”

Youngjo felt that he was stood on the top of a steep cliff. If he lost his footing, he would either freefall to the bottom of a river or roll down the steep cliffside. 

“Captains have to make the hardest decision,” Captian Hwang had once told him. “It might mean making a personal sacrifice. It might mean sacrificing one to save a hundred. It doesn’t make you any less of a human being.”

Swallowing painfully, he said, “Keonhee, get ready for take-off.”

“Thank you,” Dongju muttered, as he went back to the controls.

Geonhak walked up to him. “Are you really going to just leave Seoho here?” He was sweating, smeared with blood, scratches on his face. In contrast to his hardened, scarred body, he had tears in his eyes. “We can’t let anything happen to him.”

A look of understanding passed between them. “We won’t leave him here alone,” he reassured the combat lead. “I’m going to stay here.”

“Captain!” they all protested.

He held up a hand to silence them.

“This is my order, and I need you to follow it. I won’t listen to anyone, unfortunately this is one decision I need to make.” He looked around the room, at the disbelieving expressions on their faces. “Byul, you take command. Make your way for the nearest space-station and contact Earth control, send out a Red Alert, tell the crew to prepare for potential warfare. Keonhee, you have the master key and the master code, so you can access everything in this ship. Tell Earth Control that we would need extraction from Moon. Do you understand?”

“But Captain, you by yourself-”

“I’ll go with you, Captain,” Geonhak said gravely. “You will never make it by yourself, no offence. There is just too many of them.”

Youngjo studied Geonhak’s determined face. It was another call he had to make. 

“Do you have anyone who can lead the combat troopers onboard?” 

“Yes Captain, my second-in-command is Hongshik, he can take over.”

“We will depart in five minutes, get ready.”

The rest of the bridge crew looked stumped but did not protest. It was a compromise, between saving all onboard and the crew that was stranded on Moon. Perhaps it wasn't the best option as the ship would lose the Captain and the combat lead - but he trusted Byul and Geonhak obviously trusted his second-in-command. 

Wincing, Youngjo made his way to the empty medic bay. He quickly took his uniform top off and applied a pressure dressing on his shoulder wound, which was bleeding. Rummaging in the drawers, he found a bottle of painkillers and swallowed a few pills. The pain started to ease a bit.

“Captain?” Geonhak entered, watching the soaking wound on his shoulder nervously. “Are you sure about this? I can take one of my troopers instead.”

“It’s fine Geonhak. I don’t want to put them in unnecessary danger, it was my call as a captain to do this. Besides, they don’t know the way.”

Nodding, Geonhak helped him put his uniform top back on.

“I’ve got fully charged weapons.” He handed him a laser sabre and two phasers.

“Let’s go then.”

“Do you have any idea where they would be?”

“No, but Keonhee has traced the last place Seoho’s communication device was active. In the basement just below the control centre. We will start there.”

“Thanks for letting me come with you, Captain.”

Youngjo smiled at him. He had come a long way since the ship departed from Earth. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“They’ll be okay, right?”

“They’ll be okay. Seoho is with them, and I have all the faith in him.”


	11. Bravery In Words

As Dongju had shown them on the blueprint, the moment they disembarked on the dock, they took a different route instead of the access strip. The access strip was the direct way to the control centre, therefore, they escaped prisoners would have blocked it off with people. 

As they ran around the main building, taking a smaller tunnel, they heard the roaring engine of the airship as it lifted up and took off. 

Thankfully, they had managed to take-off without any complications. But they had also seen a lot of smaller ships on the dock, some of them battleships – there was a good chance that they would give chase.

They ran across the small tunnel, then turned right, just as Dongju had told, and came across a broken lift. The door was wedged open and they could see the ropes leading down to the top surface of the lift about 5metres below. 

“Well, we need to go down,” Youngjo said.

“Glad I remembered these.” Geonhak handed Youngjo a pair of leather gloves.

Putting them on, Geonhak ran towards the rope, grabbing it with his hands. He then climbed down the rope to the top of the lift. Youngjo followed suit. He felt a hollow sensation in his stomach as he jumped into the air and took a hold of the rope.

“Now how do get out?” he asked.

“Like this.” Without warning, Geonhak punched the top surface of the lift with all his might. There was a huge dent in the metal. 

“Is your hand okay?”

He only smiled, and followed up with a couple more punches until the dent became a hole big enough for a person to pass through.

“Be careful,” he smirked, before jumping down through the hole.

Placing his hands on either side of the opening of the hole, Youngjo pushed his legs through first, feeling Geonhak grabbing them. He then let go and fell lightly. 

Thankfully the lift door here was open so Geonhak didn’t have to punch through anything else.

“Where do we go from here?”

“Turn left, we need to cross a long corridor and the basement should be at the end of it.”

“Okay, it will be guarded for sure, so we have to be careful.”

They walked with long strides, covering ground quickly. All their senses were alight, their weapons clutched tightly in their hands. Youngjo felt a twitch in his shoulder.

Once they reached the basement, they saw a scene of bloodshed. A bunch of thugs were on the floor, some still stirring, groaning in pain, others still. The basement room was empty, but there were signs that people were being held there. 

“Seoho,” Geonhak said simply.

“Yeah, you really can’t lock him up, can you?”

“Shit, shit, shit, but now we don’t know where they are!”

“Wait, let’s think. If you’re Seoho, who’s just broken out from captivity, where will you go?”

“I know where I’ll go but I don’t think Seoho’s mind works that way.” Geonhak put his hands up in frustration, a crazed look in his eyes. 

“He should be going to the dock right, because he was supposed to meet us on the ship.”

“I’m sure he will have figured out that the ship is gone without them, that’s what he told us to do, remember?”

Youngjo held his head in his hands. There were so many people lying on the floor, Seoho couldn’t have taken them all on his own. Was Hwanwoong okay?

“If the ship is gone but he is still here…what would he want to do?”

“Send us a message,” Geonhak said slowly. “But how would he do that? He knows our communications is jammed.”

“Unless…”

He was trying to think of something he had read in one of the many books he had to complete in order to prepare for the captaincy exam. The communications chapter, it was centred around emergencies involving situations where communications were down. All control centres should have a back-up system of communicating with the outside in cases of communication jamming. But in order to do that, you’d have to…

“Come on,” he told Geonhak, running back towards the lift.

“Have you figured it out?”

“He couldn’t communicate with us but he can still communicate with other space stations, even Earth Control.”

“How?”

“Manual communications, every control centre should have one. But you have to switch the power to manual control before you can use it. Like changing from autopilot to manual.”

“Do you know where the power room is?”

“I vaguely know, I remember it on the map.”

Closing his eyes, he tried to recall the small arrow labelled ‘Power’. It was definitely on the ground floor, close to the control centre but not quite beside it. He hoped he would be able to remember the way as they approached it.

Luckily, there were not many rooms on their way and on the third corner they rounded, they saw the room labelled, ‘Power’. Two of the crooks lied on the floor in front of the door, motionless.

He sighed with relief. Finally, they must be here. But were they okay?

Slowly, they poked their heads inside the room. It was dark. There were no sounds.

“Seoho?” Geonhak called.

There was a sigh of relief and someone switched on a light. 

They were all there, Seoho, the medics, all covered in sweat, blood, and dirt. His eyes roved the room for a trace of blonde hair.

“Hwanwoong?” he called out.

“I’m here,” a weak voice replied.

“He’s okay,” Seoho assured him. “Just weak from…well all of this.” He waved at a couple more bodies on the floor. “Why didn’t you leave? I thought I told you to go?”

“We did. I mean, the ship left. We stayed back to-I wasn’t going to leave you here.” His eyes were on Hwanwoong, who smiled at him.

Shaking his head, the chief strategist said, “Captain, you know I have a plan, I always have a plan.”

“Show some appreciation, we risked our lives for you, you know,” Geonhak said but his eyes were shining with gratitude. It was obvious that that he was grateful to have finally found Seoho.

“Well, you can plan our exit from this planet,” Youngjo chuckled a little. Finally his heart had stopped racing and he was calmer. His crew were fine...Hwanwoong was fine. The tightness in his chest had eased a bit.

“I have a plan." Seoho clicked his fingers. "We need to get to the docks. We can take any of the smaller ships there. Provided you can fly it, Captain.”

“I can fly anything, as long as it has an engine.”

“What are we waiting for then?”

Youngjo approached Hwanwoong to pick him up but one of the bulkier medics did it instead. Hwanwoong looked like a rag doll in his arms. 

“Let me lead the way,” Seoho said.

“There will be a lot of guards on the dock, they are probably going to give chase to the ship.”

“Fair enough, I’m sure we can hijack a small ship with team effort.”

“So what happened?” Geonhak asked as they made their way to the dock.

Seoho sighed. “Well, we got caught while trying to make it to the ship. Someone must have noticed that the armoury had been raided. Anyway, they put us in that basement room, put some guards outside our door.”

“How did you break out?”

“It was amazing!” Hwasa, the chief medic commented. “Seoho just spoke to them and he managed to taunt them enough that they opened the door and came in to grab him. We were ready, I hit him on his head with a chair and he dropped like a fly. Seoho took care of the other guard.”

“Unfortunately, you guys must have caused a raucous at the dock as well, so they sent down more men to get us before we could leave the room.”

“And you took all of them by yourself? Geonhak raised his eyebrows.

“I had some help,” he high-fived Hwasa, who looked delighted with herself.

“I didn’t know medics know how to fight,” Youngjo said, impressed.

“We do the basic combat training course of course. But also we had poison darts. It was Seoho’s idea!”

“Poison darts?”

“Self-injecting sedatives, we carry them around always. They’re basically like anaesthetic darts, for when we get psychotic patients running around.”

“That’s amazing!”

They reached the dock. From behind a wall, they scouted the situation. As expected, it was quite crowded. Hoards of criminals were getting into the airships parked all over the place and taking off.

“What about that one, Captain? It looks close enough and farther away from where the guys are.”

“A GTN-530, that should hold all of us. Minimal combat options, but very speedy.”

“Well, we will aim for that then,” Seoho said.

“Geonhak and I will cover you Captain, you run in and get everything ready for take-off. The rest of you should get onboard as quickly and safely as you can. We will come in last. Does that sound like a plan, Geonhak?” 

“Yep.”

“Shall I take Hwanwoong?” Youngjo asked. He wouldn’t be able to bear leaving him behind again, even if it was for a few seconds. 

“But your shoulder, Captain!”

“What happened to your shoulder?” Hwanwoong asked, concerned.

“It’s fine, I’ll be fine, I promise.”

He must have looked desperate because the bulky medic handed Hwanwoong over to Youngjo. 

“On the count of three?” They all nodded. “One, two, three, go!”

Youngjo ran with all his might towards the ship he had pointed out earlier. He could feel the strain on his shoulder from Hwanwoong’s weight but it didn’t matter. 

Seoho and Geonhak were engaged in a combat with some of the men who were close enough to see them. To his surprise, Seoho was really good at combat. As he reached the ship, he quickly punched in the emergency code on the keypad outside the hatch. The other reason he had chosen this GTN-350 was because it was an Earth ship which could be opened with the emergency code that only captains knew unless it was reset by the captain during a voyage. Since this ship seemed to have been sitting here for a while, it would have resetted back to the emergency code. 

As expected, the hatch opened up, allowing him to jump inside. It was a small ship but had enough room for about 15 people. He gently placed Hwanwoong on one of the seats and then quickly made his way to the Captain’s chair. These ships were designed to be piloted by one person. He fired up the engine, undergoing the pre-flight checks rapidly. The medics bundled in one after another, taking their seats. Outside, Seoho and Geonhak were fighting off a rapidly growing army.

“They won’t make it,” Hwasa said anxiously, looking out of one of the windows.

Suddenly, Youngjo remembered the smoke grenades he had taken from the armoury.

“I’m going to nip out and bring them back,” he told everyone.

“Be careful, Captain,” Hwanwoong called after him.

He had his phaser ready as he left the shift, firing at the adversaries. To one side, Geonhak was cutting through people on his path with his laser blade like they were made with jelly while shooting his phaser with left hand. Seoho was engaged in a hand-to-hand combat with three men at the same time. 

“Guys!” he called out.

“Captain, no! You need to go!”

Seoho’s flying kick caught two of the men he was fighting and he knocked the third out with a punch.

“You guys go, I’ll hold them off,” Geonhak shouted at them.

“No way!” Youngjo and Seoho screamed at the same time.

“That’s the only way, can’t you see?” They could see more people coming towards them, bearing all sorts of weapon. “Go before you can’t anymore. I’ll hold them off.”

Geonhak was right. There was no way they would all make it to the ship. It all came down to sacrifice. If he could sacrifice himself here, he would, but no one else would be able to fly the ship.

“Seoho, let’s go,” he took the grenades out of his pocket. A smokescreen would allow them to escape and Geonhak would be able to keep the rest of them at bay. 

Seoho looked from Geonhak to Youngjo. 

“I’ll stay as well,” he said. 

“Seoho, no!”

"We will have a better chance of surviving if there are two of us instead of one." Taking the grenades from his hand, Seoho said, “Go, Captain, go!” He physically shoved him towards the ship before heading into the thick of the fight where Geonhak was squaring off with five men.

“I…guys…” Lost for words, he ran to the ship, trying to stem the flow of tears that filled his eyes.

“Where are they?” Hwasa asked.

Without replying, he rearranged the controls ready to take-off. The twin engines were roaring, ready to soar into the sky. He took one last look through the window at where Seoho and Geonhak were fighting. As he watched, a cloud of smoke erupted. 

His hand hovered over the switch to close the hatch.

“Wait a second!” Hwasa shouted. She and another medic quickly ran to the back to the hatch. Youngjo couldn’t see clearly, but it seemed they were helping someone into the ship.

“Go, go, go!” He could hear Geonhak’s voice.

He pushed the switch, the hatch descended, and he disengaged from the dock. The ship became airborne and he felt people firing at the ship. He zoomed through space, trying to avoid the fire, his heart beating fast. Had Geonhak made it alone? Did Seoho make it too? Now was not the time to think about it. He needed to concentrate on getting them to safety.

He quickly dialled the number he had memorized. “This is GTN-350 on air, contacting Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine, respond, I repeat respond.”

Brief static was followed by Keonhee’s eager voice.

“This is Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine. Captain, is that you?”

“GTN-350. Yes, Keonhee, I can see you on my radar, we are 5 minutes out at full speed. Are you guys taking fire?”

“Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine. We have taken some minor fire from some small battleships but no damage. Earth control has been contacted. Elvan space station is sending back-up, twenty minutes out.”

“GTN-350. Fine, get ready to accept us in five minutes straight. Reduce your speed by twenty knots. We will use the west wing.”

“Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine. Sounds like a plan. How many souls on board?”

He turned around to count but Hwasa said, “Ten of us back here.”

“GTN-350. Eleven souls onboard. ETA five minutes.”

“Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine. Order received. Good to hear your voice, Captain.”

The call disconnected. There were ten of them back there. He didn’t know how many medics they had, so he still didn’t know if Seoho had made it. Right now, he didn’t want to know.

He put the ship in highest speed and piloted through space towards his craft. He could see that a few ships were chasing them on the radar but they wouldn't catch up to them anytime soon. This ship had an advantage when it came to speed.

Very soon, he would be one with his crew again, this time with Hwanwoong. And perhaps, Seoho.

“Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine. What’s your status, GTN-350?”

“GTN-350. One minute out. You can open the hatch. Also, we will need urgent transport to the medic bay.”

“Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine. Hatch opening. A team will meet you at the landing zone to help with transport to medic bay.”

He could see his ship in front of them, the majestic looking craft hurtling through space. the west-side hatch was wide open to receive this smaller ship. With ease, he maneuvered the ship through the open hatch into the landing zone. As the hatch closed, he killed the engine, his heart drumming. He opened the hatch door to the smaller ship. The medics piled out and the transport team carrying magnetic stretchers took Hwanwoong. He was the last one to disembark. 

Geonhak was waiting outside. 

“Seoho?” he asked, his voice wavering.

When he looked at Geonhak properly, he could see that the man was standing still, shell-shocked. There were cuts and bruises everyway, his uniform had ripped at parts, he had blood on his face and in his hands. He looked like a mighty warrior, except there were tears in his eyes.

"Seoho?" he asked again, suddenly realising he might not want to hear the answer.

"It's all my fault..."


	12. Fallen Soldier

“It’s all my fault, Captain…there was so much blood…” 

Youngjo put a hand on Geonhak’s shoulder, more to steady himself than to comfort the other. He didn’t know what would be the next words of his mouth would be but he hoped they would hold some sort of hope. It couldn’t be the end…not so soon. He would never be able to forgive himself if…

“Seoho?”

“He-he made it…” Geonhak hiccupped. “But he passed out. There was so much blood, Captain, I’ve never seen so much blood. They’ve taken him to the medics bay.”  
His body felt weightless with relief. Seoho was alive. And he was here, with them. They had all made it out of Moon.

“That stupid idiot, throwing himself in front of me,” Geonhak said bitterly, a vein on his forehead looked close to bursting. “He was shot with a phaser.” His eyes were watery.

Patting him on the shoulder, Youngjo said, “He’ll be fine.” He had to be fine.

They made their way to the bridge slowly, letting Geonhak wipe off the tears before they entered. 

“Captain,” they all chorused as he entered. “Geonhak, you’re okay!”

“Where’s Seoho?” Byul asked.

“He’s in the medics bay, he suffered some … injuries.” He didn’t elaborate. They still had a matter to hand; there was no point distracting his crew with bad news. He knew Seoho was in good hands, in the medics bay.

“You two should get checked up as well, you look well beat up,” Keonhee said, eyeing them anxiously.

“Looks like we have more pressing matters,” Youngjo nodded at the main screen which was displaying the radar. A new ship was picked up, much larger than the smaller battleships the prisoners had been sending before.

“Oh, shit!” Keonhee cursed.

“Proximity alert, proximity alert!”

“Magnify,” Youngjo said. “Command back to me, Byul.” She vacated the captain’s chair and took her seat.

The screen showed a blown-up image of the larger battleship. It was nowhere as big as their ship but it was a fully equipped battleship. That meant it had way more weapons and means of destruction packed into its structure than their ship. It could do a lot of damage to them. 

“Shields up,” Youngjo ordered. “Hail them.”

Keonhee got busy trying to contact the other ship. If there was any of avoiding a battle, that would be the best for all of them.

“They won’t respond,” Keonhee said in a panicked voice. “They have switched off their channels. I don’t think they want to talk, their intention is hostile.”

Taking a deep breath, he turned to Byul, “Engage all emergency protocols. We won’t fire first but we will not hold back if they do. Geonhak,” he looked at the combat lead, sporting scars, blood, and dirt, “get your team ready. But you stay onboard.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Do you really think they will start firing at us?” Byul asked, frowning.

Dongju had his eyes fixed on the screen with a thoughtful glare. “They know we’re not equipped for this kind of engagement, they might take their chance.”

“Brace. I can see their guns are out!” Keonhee exclaimed.

Youngjo gripped the steering wheel tighter. A single bead of sweat traced down his face.

Without warning, the first shot hit the outer shield around the ship, causing it to burn bright red. 

“Okay, engage. Fire at will,” Youngjo shouted the command, steering to avoid the next range of lasers and missiles. “Let Earth control know that we’re now engaged in warfare and we will need back-up immediately.

“Fire at will,” Byul repeated the order, as was cursory. 

“Combat troopers, embark!” Geonhak ordered.

“Opening hatch for combat troopers, three, two, one.”

As they tried to doge the attacks and fired back, twenty sleek individual battle-crafts left the ship. Even though they were small, they were a mean fighting machine. They could easily evade missiles and fire and do critical damage to bigger ships. A proper battleship would have hundreds of these but because they were not a warship and had not expected to run into any trouble, they only had twenty.

They continued to exchange blows – the goons didn’t seem to be following any sort of tactic but they were taking heavy fire in critical places from the battle-crafts. It was anyone’s game.

“Shields at 65%, Captain, we can’t take this for too long,” Keonhee informed him, his hands flying over the control panel as he tried to divert more power to the shields and the cannons. 

Biting his lips, Youngjo gave the order, “Send out the missiles.”

He was hoping to avoid this – a few well-aimed missiles could bring down the smaller battleship. That could lead to the death of all the people in the battleship and the debris could hit them, including the combat troopers out there in the battle-crafts. However, since the situation was uncontrollable, this was the only way.

“How far out is back-up?” he asked impatiently.

“We have to battleships from Elvan space station 10 minutes out,” Byul checked. “Do you want to wait?”

“Keonhee, how long will our shields hold?”

The chief engineer scratched his head. “At this rate, not very long. I’m trying to divert as much power as I can but...it’s like a sinkhole.”

“What if we try to avoid some of the hits?”

He shrugged. “That would definitely help but how are we going to do that?”

Youngjo glanced at Byul, who sighed. “If there is no other way…”

“What are you two up to?” Dongju asked suspiciously.

“I know you won’t like it very much, Keonhee, but if we can zigzag for a couple of minutes, we could avoid some of the fire and buy us some time.”

“Oh no, you don’t!”

Zigzagging was a way of steering airships that consisted of sharp angles and turns in order to avoid missile strikes. For anyone on board, it felt like flying through terrible turbulence. Engineers did not like it because it damaged the gears, making such quick changes in movements in short space of time, and resulted in long repair works. However, in this situation, it seemed plausible.

“Byul, announce it to the rest of the crew, tell them to be seated, belted in. You guys should do the same.”

“If this wasn’t a matter of life and death, I’d have fought you for this,” Keonhee said, disgruntled. “My precious gears!”

“Argh, you’re such a nerd,” Dongju commented, shaking his head.

“Well, when we make it back to Earth, I want to see your ass down in repairs.”

Geonhak informed the battle-crafts and asked them to cut the ship a wide berth. They would need a lot of space to zigzag so that they didn’t run into any of their own battle-crafts.

“All right everyone, ready?”

“Yes, Captain!”

Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he watched the radar map on his screen intently – it was a state-of-the-art radar that only showed nearby ships and astral bodies but also any laser or missiles, any heat source at all in a 20-mile radius. He watched the three missiles approaching them and 5 laser strikes and calculated in his head in an instant – this was he had prepared for. He let the ship dive downwards at a steep angle, pulling to the right at one second and then dipping sideways the next. The ship quavered at the sudden movements and he could hear groaning from someone in the bridge but he didn’t have eyes or ears for anything else.

“Missile, three o’ clock,” Byul called out. 

The first officer played an important role in this – they would call out any patterns, dangers, or prospective collisions, in other words, they were a second pair of eyes for the captain. Byul did her job diligently, impressing him extensively.

He continued a few more miles like this, making tight corners and at one point, maneuvering an extremely difficult 90-degree turn. It showed promising results. Keonhee shouted that the rate at which the shields were losing power were slowing down. 

“Captain, you should pull up, the two enemy battleships are on a collision course if you manage to move out in time.”

She was right; he waited until the very last minute so as not to make his opponents aware of what he was doing before pulling straight upwards, causing the two smaller battleships to crash into each other. They went up in flames, showering debris everywhere. 

“Good call, Byul.”

“Captain, they’re here!” Dongju said excitedly. He was pointing at two larger battleships that were just picked up by the radar. 

Their communication channels sprang to life. “This is Battleground-4 transmitting, Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine, we’re responding to a Red Alert, can you hear me?”   
“Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine, we can hear you clearly,” Keonhee replied. “We are very grateful for the quick response.”

“Heh, quick response, they took freaking 45 minutes,” Geonhak complained.

“Battleground-4, I’m Commander Im, can I speak to your Captain?”

Keonhee patched the call through to Youngjo’s headset. “Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine, this is Captain Kim, I’m commanding this ship. Thank you for coming to our aid. We are being chased by one medium- sized battleship and several smaller ones. My combat troops are out there but we have taken a lot of fire. We will gladly stay and provide back-up.”

There was a moment of pause before the line became live again, “Battleground-4, we have run the simulations and we won’t need any back-up. Draw your combat troopers back, we will finish up here.”

“Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine, are you sure Commander Im? We have no problem helping.”

“Battleground-4, thank you, Captain. You and your team has done enough. I hear you have casualties onboard. Make way for Earth, heal your injured, we will take care of the rest. We have four more battleships 15 minutes out. We will finish here and make a landing on Moon.”

He looked at Byul, who nodded in agreement. 

“Valkyrie Two-Zero-One-Nine, thank you very much, Commander, we will be indebted to you. We are withdrawing in 3 minutes.”

“Battleground-4, thanks for holding the fort. We will wait 3 minutes before starting heavy fire. Good luck. Over and out.”

“Geonhak, get our troops back.”

Geonhak became busy recalling the combat troopers. In three minutes, all the battle-crafts they had sent out had returned and they were ready to take-off. Confirming with Commander Im one more time, they made their way for Earth, speeding through space. From the back cameras, they watched as hundreds of battle-crafts emerged from the two Elvan battleships and they started firing mercilessly at the enemy, dispatching missiles.

“Damn, he didn’t come to play,” Keonhee commented.

“That’s what battleship commanders are like, ruthless. The crooks will wish they had never broken out of Lunar Max,” Geonhak said, relaxing in his chair finally and closing his eyes.

Once they were many miles away from the warfare, Keonhee disengaged the shield. “I feel like I can breathe again.”

“Well done, team, you’ve all done extremely well, beyond anything I could’ve hoped for,” Youngjo said encouragingly. He was currently filled with pride. This was a brand-new bridge crew who had just, against all odds, overcame everyone’s worst nightmare. 

He was sure each and every one of them were destined for greatness. They had proved their worth several times over already. And it was only just the beginning.  
He only wished he could have protected every last member on his team.

“Okay, now you two need to go and see the medics,” Byul said in a strict tone, looking at him and Geonhak, with her hands on her hips. It seemed like the team were expecting resistance to this idea. 

To their surprise, they both jumped to their feet and said, “Sure!” 

Exchanging a quick look, they both exited the bridge.

They walked a few steps in silence.

“Geonhak, what you did back there, you sacrificed yourself for the rest of us, that was very…brave. No, it wasn’t just brave, it was noble. You didn’t have to. Thank you.”

“We played to our strengths, Captain, you did your part and I did mine. I want to thank you, for leading us so well. I could have never done it if I didn’t know that you’d have done the same for me.”

Despite himself, he ruffled Geonhak’s hair lovingly. If the combat lead was shocked, he didn’t say anything but leaned into his touch. 

“I hope Seoho is doing okay.”

“That’s why you’re going to the medics bay, right? To see if Seoho and Hwanwoong are doing okay?”

He smiled. “I could say the same for you.”

Sighing, the combat lead said, “He’s crazy, Seoho is. I have no idea what he’s thinking, ever.”

“He’s smart and he’s brave.”

“He’s a bit too reckless,” Geonhak shook his head disapprovingly.

Youngjo couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What?”

“Just…you calling someone else reckless is a bit…”

“I’m not…” Massaging the back of his neck, Geonhak grew quiet.

The medics bay was busy. Some of the combat troopers had sustained minor injuries and were receiving medical attention. He and Geonhak walked up to each of them personally and thanked them for their undertaking. Fortunately, none of them were seriously hurt. 

When Hwasa saw them, she forced them into a quiet room, threatening them with sedatives if they didn’t comply with her instructions. 

“Can I just see Seoho and Hwanwoong for a second?” he pleaded with her. Her face darkened. “What is it?” he asked urgently.

“Hwanwoong’s fine, but Seoho’s in surgery.”

Geonhak made a choking sound. “Is he-is he…”

“He’s stable,” Hwasa confirmed. “Well, he was before…we had to perform urgent surgery. He’s bleeding from a ruptured artery and we need to stop it so we couldn’t wait.”

Geonhak leapt to his feet, clutching at his hair. “This is all my fault. That’s why there was so much blood!”

Pulling him down by his sleeve, Youngjo hugged him, pushing his head to rest on his shoulder. The younger was shaking. 

“It’s not your fault, Kim Geonhak. And Seoho will be completely fine. Right?” he looked at Hwasa questioningly. His heart was pounding.

“Our best surgeon, Yonghoon, is doing the surgery. Don’t worry, once we get back, he will have the best doctors looking after him. He will be fine.”

“It will be okay,” he whispered to the devastated combat lead. His insides were churning uncomfortably and it took effort to speak every word. If something really happened to Seoho…no, it couldn’t. Seoho was tougher than he looked. “Could you give us a moment?”

“But-” Hwasa was about to protest, but he nodded at her emphatically. “Five minutes,” she said, before leaving the room and sliding the door behind her shut.

Finally, a dam seemed to break and Geonhak burst out in tears. The fabric on his shoulder quickly became wet with tears. Patting him gently on the back, he tried to convey the words he couldn’t muster at the moment. 

“Geonhakkie, I promise he’ll be fine. There is nothing Seoho can’t overcome, he’s shown that to us already, hasn’t he?”

With a deep sigh, the younger managed to stop his tears and raised his head. His eyes were red.

“Thanks, Captain. You’re right, I should give him more credit.”

He patted him on the cheek. “In return, I won’t tell him you cried over him.”

Redness spread to his cheeks. “I’m not-”

They were interrupted by Hwasa and one of her nurses who immediately started fussing over them, tending to their wounds and checking for other injuries. They cleaned his shoulder wound and dressed it. He gritted his teeth through the pain but a soothing balm that Hwasa put under the bandage took some of the edge away.

“You’ve fractured a rib, you fool,” Hwasa was scolding Geonhak after he had his whole-body scan. “Be grateful it’s not displaced and you don’t need surgery but how have you managed to walk and talk with it, you should be doubled over in pain.”

“I-I have a high pain threshold,” he mumbled, gladly accepting the painkillers Hwasa offered.

Hwasa brought him back to the room Youngjo was being tended to.

“There you go, your boy, a bit battered, few bruises and cuts, but okay overall,” she said.

“Thanks, doctor.”

One of the other medics came over and reported something to Hwasa, most of which he didn’t understand but he heard Seoho’s name. He looked at Hwasa expectantly.

“The surgery is completed,” she said, “It went fine,” she added when she saw Geonhak leap to his feet. “He er- will need to be operated on again when we get back but it’ll do for now. He’s in recovery now, you can see him about 30 minutes later.”

“Thank you so much!” Geonhak’s voice was dripping with emotion. “Thank you for saving him.”

“He saved all of us, that’s the least we could do.” She smiled at them. “I never thanked you, Captain. You, and the rest of your team, you really saved us and protected us.”

“Not at all, remember, we are a team. It was a team effort, and you all did your part.” Youngjo bowed. “I’m thankful for such a great team.”

She bowed back. “No team is a team without a leader.”

“That reminds me, I should go back to the bridge. Geonhak, do you want to rest awhile here?”

“That would be recommended,” Hwasa said, crossing her arms on her chest, “but you guys don’t ever listen.”

“Tell you what, Geonhak, why don’t you wait here until Seoho wakes up. You can see him and then let me know how he’s doing?”

The combat lead nodded.

“You can use this room here, I’ll get someone to bring you a change of clothes from your cabin.”

“Can I see Hwanwoong before I go?”

“He’s sleeping, he had some heavy painkillers. Why don’t you come back in an hour?” Hwasa suggested. He nodded.

Telling Geonhak to get some rest, Youngjo made his way to his cabin. He quickly jumped into the shower to wash off the rest of the dried blood and grime before changing into a fresh set of uniform. His shoulder twinged as he put his arm through the uniform but it was much more tolerable than before, thanks to the painkillers. 

He still couldn’t believe what they had been through in the last few hours. From being captured, to breaking out, to a stealth mission to save his team members, complete with a space warfare – not many captains could say they had encountered something like this on a ‘low-risk’ supply mission. 

Was it in some way his fault? Should he have noticed something before it was too late? Should he have thought more about the stray satellite and had gone back to Earth instead of carrying on? 

There were no answers to these questions, at least not now. There would be an investigation into this once they went back – all the events would be inspected thoroughly to ensure that any of it had been avoidable. An independent inspection team would go through all the data, the ship log, and interview all the crew to make sure no mistakes had been made. 

As much as he would like to think that he wasn’t worried about it, the truth was, it was nagging him. The maiden voyage of the youngest captain in the history and things had to go horribly wrong – he wouldn’t blame people for pointing fingers and raising eyebrows. 

The main question would be if he had performed any worse than another older captain.


	13. Watch the Stars

His head was a mess with scattered thoughts and prayers. Pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind, he walked over to the bridge. Everyone turned back to look at him as he entered.

“Everything okay, Captain?” Keonhee asked.

“Seoho had to have emergency surgery but he’s fine now,” he said, taking his seat. “Hwanwoong is okay. Geonhak has a broken rib but he’ll live.”

“Is Seoho going to be alright?” Byul asked worriedly.

“He will,” Youngjo said with conviction. “There is nothing that can keep him down, you know.”

“That’s true,” Keonhee agreed, “He’s probably already thinking of ways to aggravate Geonhak.”

They all laughed.

“Any news?”

“The rogue ship from Moon carrying all the goons had been forced to land on Asai space station and they had been apprehended. The smaller rogue battleships had been destroyed by our forces. Five ships of Earth troops have landed on the Moon and they’re rounding up all the escapees,” Byul read out the updates.

“We did good, Captain,” Keonhee added.

“Yes, you all did very well.” Youngjo watched his team, his chest filling with pride. “You should all take some rest in turns, at least half an hour each.”

“I don’t think I can, all the adrenaline rushing around in my blood,” Keonhee said excitedly. “I can’t wait to get back and tell my friends what happened.”

“About that, you know there will be an investigation into the incident, right? You’ll all be separately interviewed. I just want to tell you, you’ve all done your parts and there’s nothing to be afraid of. Just tell them the truth and exactly what happened.”

“Yes, Captain.”

After about an hour, he got a call from the medics bay to let him know that Hwanwoong was awake. He felt guilty about leaving the bridge but Keonhee almost pushed him out of his chair.

“It’s better to go and see him than sit here and moan about not being able to see him.”

“When did I moan?”

“Not out loud, but it’s clearly visible on your face.”

Both Byul and Dongju giggled. It was probably obvious to them all now that he had a special affection for Hwanwoong. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it though – there was nothing between them, he was just stuck in a painful one-sided love.

Yet, he couldn’t help but feel slightly giddy as he walked over to the medics bay. Hwasa pointed to Hwanwoong’s door without looking up from her computer. Sheepishly, he knocked, before sliding the door open and entering. Hwanwoong was neatly tucked into the bed. There was a drip attached to his arm.

“Captain?” he smiled at him. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“How are you, Woong-ah?”

He kneeled beside his bed so that he could be at the same eye level. He looked a bit pale but seemed okay otherwise.

“I’m fine, as you can see.”

“How’s your arm?”

“Doesn’t hurt a bit. Dr Hwasa is brilliant.”

“She is, isn’t she?” He ruffled the younger’s hair gently. “You scared me.”

“Thank you so much, Captain, for saving me…us. Thank you for coming back for us.”

“I couldn’t just leave you there…I would never…” He fell quiet. There was so much he wanted to say to Hwanwoong but he couldn’t bring himself to, not knowing what the younger felt about him.

“Do you know what I was thinking about when we got captured?”

Caressing his cheek softly, he asked, “What? You must have been so afraid.”

“I was afraid…I was afraid of never seeing you again. But at the same time, I hoped…I prayed that you were safe and you had gotten out of there unharmed. I was thinking about you, every second.”

His hand stopped, mid-caress. What did Hwanwoong mean? Because right now, it seemed like Hwanwoong cared about him. But he didn’t want to hear those words if they were just empty nothings. He didn’t want to get his hopes up because he knew it would hurt more when his dreams shattered, once again.

“I was scared of losing you again, too. But then, I didn’t have you to begin with.” The words tumbled out before he could stop them.

“Right.” Hwanwoong breathed out deeply, as if preparing for a confession. “We haven’t spoken about it, I know. But that day, do you remember, when you came to my dorm room?”

The day he wanted to confess to Hwanwoong, to make him his? How could he forget that day?

“I’m sorry I made things difficult between you and your boyfriend-”

“I’d told Changmin I wanted to break up. I told him I had fallen in love with someone else. That’s why he was so angry. You left before I could tell you, that the person I fell in love with…was you, is you.”

Youngjo’s knees gave away. He had never expected that Hwanwoong – the Hwanwoong he had been yearning over all these years – had actually been in love with him!

“Why did you not tell me?”

“I tried to, but then you basically took the next mission out and you avoided all my messages. I thought you didn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore.”

“Woongie, you,” he knocked him lightly on the head, kissing the spot immediately when Hwanwoong rubbed the area with his hand. “You could have saved me a lot of heartache if you told me there and then…I’m an idiot as well. I was so caught up in the angst and so afraid of getting hurt again that I just never approached you again…” He felt like laughing and crying at his own stupidity at the same time. He had waited for so long, hoping one day Hwanwoong would reciprocate his feelings, not knowing the younger felt exactly the same about him.

“Shall we just say we’re both stupid and leave it there?” Hwanwoong chuckled softly, his eyes shining.

“Tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“What you wanted to tell me all those years ago.”

Pouting, the younger hid his face in his hands. “I can’t, not when you’re staring at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“I’ll tell you once you stop looking so handsome.”

Smiling, Youngjo pulled the younger’s hands away from his face. “I was born with this face unfortunately, so the handsomeness is not going to go away.”

Huffing, he shifted in the bed to lie on his side, facing Youngjo.

“In that case, handsome Kim Youngjo, I love you.”

His heart backflipped in joy as he tried to control his expression but the stupid smile that was creeping up from his lips to his eyes was indomitable. He had wanted to hear those words for so long.

“Fairy Yeo Hwanwoong, I love you too, and I dedicate my life to you. You are my sun.”

Hwanwoong grimaced. “Why would you compare me to a star that’s past its prime?”

“Well then, you’re my galaxy.”

“You’re so corny.”

“Do you know why I wanted to become a captain so desperately?” he asked.

“Apart from the respect and fame, no,” Hwanwoong giggled. 

“ It’s because you told me that night in the rain that you want to see the stars. I wanted to be the one to fly you to the stars.”

He had never told anyone why he was so desperate to become a captain at such a young age. The day he had met Hwanwoong, the desire had been etched into him. The younger probably didn’t even know what he had done. Eventually, when he had to give up on him, he chose to hold onto this dream. It was the only thing from Hwanwoong that he was allowed to keep.

Hwanwoong pressed his lips together, his eyes going soft. He raised a hand to cup his cheek.

“I can’t be bothered about the stars anymore.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I can see them all in your eyes.”

A smile naturally sprang to his lips as he caressed Hwanwoong’s small hand on his cheek.

“Who’s the cheesy one now? That’s the greasiest pick-up line I’ve ever heard.”

“Wait till you find out it’s not a pick-up line and I truly mean it.”

Youngjo swooped in for another quick kiss, his heart doing somersaults. “I don’t want to but I should probably go back.”

“Yes, what will they do without their glorious leader.”

“Stop it!” He got to his feet, his cheeks feeling hot. “I’ll come and see you again.”

“Next time,” Hwanwoong winked, “try not to be so handsome.”

Laughing, he replied, “That will be extremely difficult.” Running his fingers through his fluffy hair, he said, “Get some sleep.”

As his eyes closed, Youngjo exited the room. It took him a moment to gather himself. He felt happier than he had in a long time, his heart was finally light, his chest wasn’t constricting painfully anymore. He could see them together- him and Hwanwoong.

Before he returned to the bridge, he wanted to check on Seoho. But as he approached the door to his room. he could hear voices from inside so he stopped by the door.

“You don’t have to say sorry,” Seoho was saying; his voice groggy.

“It’s my fault this happened to you.” The voice was warm.

“It’s not your fault, okay? It’s all chill.” His words were rolling; probably after-effects of the anaesthesia.

“So will you play a videogame with me?” 

“How can I play a game when I have a broken arm, you idiot.”

“Okay then, just sleep.”

“Are you not going back? I told you I can’t play a game with you, not today, not in a week, at least.”

There was the sound of someone shifting in a chair.

“I’m just going to rest here, get some peace and quiet.”

“Okay, but I’m warning you I snore.”

“Whatever, at least better than Keonhee running his mouth.”

“Do you want to hold my hand while I’m sleeping?”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Fine.”

The two fell quiet and Youngjo was about to leave when he heard Seoho squeal.

“Not the hand that’s in a cast, you idiot, the other hand.”

“Sorry.”

He smiled. Despite himself, he couldn’t help but take a peek through the door.

As he had expected, Seoho was in the bed, hooked up to a heart monitor and a drip, his right arm in a case. Beside him, Geonhak was sitting on a chair. He was holding Seoho’s left hand and had pulled it to rest it in his lap. His heart warmed up watching the two getting together so well. The next time they fight, he would know it was all an act.

Normally, he would have asked Geonhak to return to the bridge but he couldn’t bring himself to break this up. So he returned alone – they didn’t particularly need the combat lead on the bridge at the moment.

“How are we doing team?”

“We are expected to land in 40 minutes,” Byul informed him. “We’ve been informed that we will be all taken to the hospital on arrival for a check-up and then for interviews.”

“Great,” he said. “Let’s try and land without an incident, shall we?”

“I don’t know, I feel like making a show, give them something to watch.”

“Seriously, Keonhee, we’ve had enough of a show already.”

“Whatever you say, Captain.”

“Where’s the combat lead, Captain?” Dongju asked, noticing that Geonhak had not come back with him.

“He’s very tired, I’ve told him to rest.”

Dongju nodded. “Best rest now, who knows how long these interviews will last.”

Thankfully, they did land without an incident. The bridge crew was always the last to disembark so they waited until the rest of the crew filed out after the medics took the injured out. Geonhak returned to the bridge, quite red in the face. Finally, when it was their turn to get out, Youngjo led the way. He didn’t know what the mood would be at the Earth control.

At the dock, he was met by the commander of the Earth control. Heo Youngsaeng was normally a jovial man with a pot-belly who he got along with well but right now, he looked grave.

“Captain Kim,” he said in a booming voice, “welcome back home.”

“Thank you, sir. We’ve had some troubles, as you must have heard.”

“Yes indeed. You’ll be escorted to the hospital for a check-up and then each of you will be subjected to a separate interview. I apologise this will delay when you can finally rest.”

“That’s fine, sir.” He bowed, then followed his team.

Youngjae seemed to have been intentionally distant with him. Was this a part of the protocol? Or had the Earth control had heard enough and had already made up their minds about how disappointed they were with him? In a way, he didn’t care anymore about what they thought about him as a captain. Despite everything, he had managed to bring back all 150 souls aboard his ship; in his mind, he had already succeeded in his mission.

He was ready for whatever punishment they thought he deserved.


	14. The Ending to a Beginning

The interview was long and grilling.

“Do you think you made the right decision there, Captain Kim? Would someone else in your place have made a different call?”

Youngjo was being interviewed by the bigwigs of the Space Fleet and they looked all kinds of intimidating.

Throughout the mission, he had worried if his decisions were right. He had been anxious about making a mistake, about making his team follow an instruction that might bring them to harm. But right now, he didn’t hesitate to answer the question he was being asked.

“I don’t know what anyone else would have done in my place. And I don’t know if I made the right decision. It’s not as easy in real life, right and wrong, black and white. It’s all grey. But what I do know is, if I had to make the decision again, knowing what I know now, I would have made the same call.”

They all glared at him but he wasn’t intimidated. He wouldn’t grovel, he would be true to his thoughts and feelings.

“What do you think about the fact that one of your crew is severely injured?”

“I would have liked to avoid it,” he said, biting his lips for the first time since the interview started. “I feel terrible and my heart hurts for it.”

“Lee Seoho - was he acting out of line? Did he disregard a direct order from his Captain?”

“No,” he said in a heartbeat. There was no way they were going to pin this on Seoho. “Lee Seoho saved us, he saved our lives. He is brave and valiant.”

“Are you suggesting you encourage insubordination?”

“Sacrifice is the cornerstone of success – isn’t that one of the values of the Space Fleet? Seoho made a great sacrifice, for his team. There was no other way.”

He wasn’t sure if his interview was exceptionally long because he was the captain or if his team had to suffer through the same thing. They were asking the same questions, over and over again, asking him about minute details of the flight log. Not once had they asked - 'are you okay?'

Finally, when they said that they had finished with the questions, he sighed with relief. He didn't have it in him to answer any more of their questions.

“We’ve arranged temporary accommodation for you all. Once the investigation committee reach a decision, you’ll be free to go back to your home,” a lady with a tight bun told him on his way out.

He ran into Dongju just in front of the interview room, coming out of another.

Captain, how was it?” the younger asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know is the honest answer. They didn’t seem to like what I said but I don’t care anymore.”

“Are you sure? It would be a shame to lose your captaincy after making a record.”

“Son Dongju, are you out of your mind? Why would he lose his captaincy?” Keonhee joined them. “Those annoying gits, they have no idea, do they? When was the last time they have been on a mission?”

It was obvious that the questions hadn’t been pleasant to have riled him up so much.

“Don’t think about it too much guys, just get some rest. Also, you don’t have to call me captain anymore, the mission is complete.”

“What do we call you then?” Dongju asked. “Hyung?”

“If you want to.”

They were shown to their rooms. After having some food, Youngjo got into the bed. He wondered if Seoho was doing okay. They wouldn’t be allowed to visit him until the investigation was over. Would they go over to the hospital to interview Seoho, when he was so unwell?

It turned out that the doctors wouldn’t allow Seoho to do an interview while he had surgery and was recovering from it, so the result was pushed back. Hwanwoong was allowed out of the hospital after one day and was offered accommodation in the hotel they were all staying at. The first thing he did was come and visit Youngjo. Truth be told, he spent more time in Youngjo’s room than his own. They spoke about so many things, all the things he had wanted to share with Hwanwoong over the last few years.

He also took the time to visit his crew members, all 150 of them, to thank them personally for their contribution. To his surprise, he wasn’t greeted by suspicious looks and quiet whispers but instead was shown the respect a captain would commend, although he had to point out to them that since the mission finished, he was not their captain anymore.

Byul, Dongju, Geonhak, and Keonhee would come over to his room too and they would either play board games or just talk. They all now knew that he and Hwanwoong were dating so there were no raised eyebrows or meaningful smiles when they would enter his room and find the younger there.

They were all understandably frustrated about not being able to visit Seoho in the hospital, no one more so than Geonhak. Even though he tried to pretend that it didn’t bother him very much, his body language said otherwise.

“It won’t be too long now,” he reassured him.

While going out to pick Hwanwoong up for lunch, he ran into Dongheon, who started complaining about how he hated his room and wanted to go home to his family.

“When they were interviewing me, I thought they were trying to blame me for Hwanwoong’s accident,” he said glumly. “I told them we did all the safety checks and followed all the protocols but they were being an ass about it.”

“Don’t worry, Dongheon, they’re just like that. They do that to intimidate people, but if you have stuck to the truth, it should be fine.”

“Also, you promised me a recommendation letter, remember?”

He laughed. “If I get to my keep my captaincy, I will absolutely write you one.”

Dongheon’s face darkened. “What do you mean? You don’t really think they’ll demote you? It’s not your fault the prisoners from Lunar Max broke out!”

“I really don’t know what they think, but if they find that I haven’t done everything a captain should have done to overcome the situation…”

“Are you kidding me?” Dongheon said indignantly. “We were taken prisoners by vicious criminals from Lunar Max. Yet we’ve made it all back, in one piece, thanks to you! You’re the best captain ever.”

Youngjo hugged his friend. He said he didn’t care about the investigation but hearing from one of his crew that they didn’t blame him or hold him responsible made him feel liberated.

When he finally let him go, Dongheon said, “By the way, heard about you and Yeo Hwanwoong. That was a twist I wasn’t expecting.”

Blushing, he said, “Who told you that?”

“Lee Keonhee, of course.”

He huffed. Did Keonhee never keep his mouth shut?

“Don’t worry, he just told me. And the rest of the engineering department.”

Groaning, Youngjo hid his face in his hands. He would have words with Lee Keonhee today.

“It’s okay mate, just know that when the repair works on the ship starts, you’ll almost never see him. Thanks to you, we have a lot of repair work.”

He knew he was talking about the zigzagging which would have caused the engine to take a hit.

“I’m sure you’ll let your captain borrow one of your engineers if he really needed to.”

“Everything at a price, Kim Youngjo,” Dongheon said, laughing.

When he repeated the story to his friends – because yes, he just didn’t think of them as his bridge crew anymore, they were friends – they all laughed.

“So you’ll have to pay to spend time with Hwanwoong? Isn’t that basically prostitution?” Keonhee said, causing everyone else to guffaw wildly.

“Seriously!” he shook his head disapprovingly.

“Stop, my rib hurts,” Geonhak pleaded.

They continued to laugh, falling onto each other, when he received a call from the Space Fleet representative who was looking after them. She told him that they were now allowed to visit Seoho in hospital.

“What does that mean?” Byul asked.

“It means they’ve reached a decision already,” he said, sighing. “But, it’s no time to worry about that. Let’s go and visit him.”

“Should we take Hwanwoong too?” Keonhee asked.

“He’s spending some time with his friends from engineering, he can go another time.”

They go over to visit Seoho at the hospital. He was in a room of his own. He had to have another surgery once they had landed that went successfully and now was recovering well. They would be able to discharge him from the hospital in a week. That was what the doctor told them before they entered the room. Youngjo was worried about seeing a battered, grey-looking Seoho but to his surprise, he greeted them with a wide smile and sparkling eyes.

“Nice of you guys to visit me,” he told them.

While Keonhee and Byul sat on either side of his bed and fussed over him, he stood at the foot of the bed, hearing Seoho’s spirited voice. He was so so grateful that Seoho was doing alright.

Geonhak was stood close to the door, as if he was afraid of approaching the man on the bed. Seoho had noticed it too, but he didn’t say anything. Even Dongju was sat on a corner of the bed, joining in the conversation. Youngjo ushered Geonhak to get closer to the bed, which he did timidly.

“Geonhak had been so worried about you,” Keonhee suddenly said.

“No, I haven’t,” Geonhak protested, looking away.

“I’m sure he’s worried because he knows I’ll kick his ass on all the video games once I get out of here,” Seoho said.

“No chance! I’m way better than you.”

“Aaand they’re back to bickering,” Byul commented, shaking her head. “It was nice while it lasted.”

Finally, they said their goodbyes, promising to visit again. Before he left, Seoho told Youngjo, “No matter what happens, I want you to know you’re an awesome Captain and I would do it all over again if I have to.”

He only managed to pat the back of his hand as he felt he would cry if he opened his mouth.

That evening, they all received a text message saying they were free to go home and return to their normal duties. Only Youngjo received a text calling him to attend a meeting the next morning where a verdict would be passed on the investigation.

Dressing in his uniform, he tried to make himself presentable. He watched the 5 golden stripes on his shoulder – he had worked so hard to earn each and every one of them. There was a possibility he would be stripped of them today, but he would have no regrets. This mission had taught him a lot. And now he had friends and a very loving boyfriend by his side who would support him no matter what. If it meant he would have to work from the bottom up again, it would be okay.

The conference room he had been called to were full of important-looking people. The most important was obviously the High Commander of the Space Fleet, the highest-ranking official in the entire Fleet. Lee Junjin was sat at the centre of rectangular table that took up most of the room. He looked impassive. He had been one of the people who had objected to the idea of Youngjo being given his captaincy but in the end, had to concede. He must be loving this opportunity to pass judgment on him now, a kind of victorious ‘told-you-so’. He was flanked by two of his aides.

One of them said, “We will start now. We’re discussing the investigation results from Mission RTK-666.”

They outlined the mission and the incidents that had taken place. Youngjo was barely paying attention. All he wanted to know was what was going to happen to him and his team.

“After much consideration, we have concluded that none of the crew from Mission RTK-666 are to be held responsible for the unfortunate incidents that had occurred."

He breathed out very slowly, feeling dizzy, having held his breath until now. It was going to be okay...he could hardly believe it.

"On contrary, we would like to commend them for their bravery, teamwork, and loyalty to the Space Fleet that resulted in the capture of prisoners from Lunar Max and prevention of any escapees. The crew will be honoured at a gala to be held in due course and everyone would receive commendation letters. As for Captain Kim,” the aide looked at him directly, “we have received excellent reports about you from your crew. You have led them with empathy and conviction and you have ensured their safety. Every member of your 150-membered crew has said they would want to serve under you again. Thank you for your services, Captain Kim."

For a moment, Youngjo thought that he was still in his bed in the hotel room, dreaming. Could it actually be true? Excellent reports from the crew - even though a lot of them had doubted him in the beginning? His heart was beating fast and he couldn't help but feel proud, not because his achievements have been recognised but he was able to convince his crew that he was indeed fit to lead them.

"We have also decided to award Lee Seoho, the chief strategist, the Valiant medal, for his outstanding contribution and sacrifice.”

There was a smattering of applause which grew louder as the High Commander joined in. The Valiant medal was given to recognise bravery and of course, Seoho deserved it so much. Once the applause died down, the High Commander spoke.

“When Kim Youngjo first qualified for captaincy, a lot of people had doubts, including me.” He paused, his eyes meeting Youngjo’s. “But with this mission, he has proved that the tests we have in place are infallible and older does not necessarily mean wiser.” For the first time since he’d known him, Lee Junjin cracked a smile. “Captain Kim Youngjo, I want to congratulate you on your successful mission. In the face of adversity, you’ve had to make difficult decisions. And I want to echo your thoughts and say, there are no right and wrong decisions. Only the very wise would know that.”

Youngjo bowed deeply, his heart thumping loudly. He hadn’t expected this outcome in his wildest dreams.

“In order to recognize your services, we have decided to award you with Braveheart. And yes, I am aware you’ll be the youngest person to receive the Braveheart, but I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

He gasped. Braveheart was a medal of honour; no, it was the medal of honour. It was the highest award a member of the Space Fleet could get, given to only the most deserving.

“Sir, thank you very much. But I don’t think I deserve it; it was my team who-”

“And you led them, you inspired them, you supported them. If I’ve said you deserve it, then you really deserve it.”

He bowed again, unable to say much. He was still having trouble believing that this was not a dream. The meeting was called to an end and people started filing out of the room.

“Youngjo!” It was Heo Youngsaeng, who was back to his jovial self. “My boy, I knew you were destined for greatness.”

“Thank you, sir,” he said, unable to stifle the smile.

“You’re free to go home now, better get out before they haul you back and put you on another ship.”

“I’m just glad I get to keep my stripes.”

“Of course, you do. Son, you’re an amazing captain, never believe differently, no matter what anyone says.”

He waited by the door while everyone filed out, bowing at them. Some of them smiled at him, others congratulated him, a pat on his shoulder, an encouraging thump on his back. There were a few who completely ignored him though, their faces completely emotionless. He noticed all these people had been against his captaincy.

When he finally exited the room, the mezzanine had cleared, apart from a familiar face.

“Byul!” he exclaimed, not expecting to see her here. “Why haven’t you gone home?”

“What, and let you bear the brunt of it all? We know you have Hwanwoong now, but still, we’re friends.” She smiled broadly at him.

“I’m taking you’ve heard?”

She skipped forward and hugged him. He was surprised but thumped her on the back.

“I’m so glad! I knew of course that they’ll see what an amazing feat you’ve achieved but…I’m just glad.”

“We did it. We all did. And I couldn’t have asked for a better first officer.” He patted her on the head. It was all going to be okay.


	15. An Ending that has a Beginning

Everything was unbelievable. And yet, he had never felt so happy.

Youngjo went home ecstatic. He would have so much to tell his mother. To his surprise, he found his father leaning against the door, listening into their conversation. He wasn’t trying particularly hard to hide the fact that he was proud of his son.

He spoke to Hwanwoong every day, who had gone back to his district to see his family. The separation anxiety was real - if he couldn’t reach him, he would pace up and down and continuously call him until he picked up. He knew it would getter better over time but right now he was like a child who was holding onto the most precious gift in the world.

After a week of vacation, he returned to the Earth control. As a captain, he had lots of other responsibilities, such as teaching juniors, attending meetings, strategizing. Seoho had finally been discharged from the hospital and he had planned a mini get-together for the team.

After attending three meetings in a row, he had some time to slink away to see Hwanwoong. The repair work on Valkyrie-two-zero-one-nine had begun and Hwanwoong was busy with that. He took the lift to the basement and walked over to the maintenance area. It was a large open space for miles. There were many ships lined along the sides, some battered and bruised, others shining from the recent polish. He saw his ship, a bit battered but as majestic as ever, and walked over. The engineers and maintenance crew all greeted him cheerily.

He found Hwanwoong on all fours, just inside one of the engines, the walls of which had been taken apart. He was wearing the grey work jumpsuit with bold letters proclaiming ‘Engineer’ on the back.

“Must be fun for you, not having to work,” he heard a familiar voice behind him.

Lee Keonhee was standing in his grey jumpsuit, sweat plastering his bangs on his forehead.

“I will have you know I just attended three meetings.”

Hearing his voice, Hwanwoong clambered out of the engine.

“’Youngjo!” he put his arms around his waist. Youngjo bent down to peck him on the forehead.

Rolling his eyes, Keonhee said, “Here we go, I feel like this mission has produced more couples than any in the history of missions.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there’s you two. Byul has hit it off with one of the medics. Dongheon, after being single his whole life, confessed to Kangmin, one of the junior maintenance staff. And then there’s Seoho and Geonhak of course – although they will refuse if you ask them, swear it on their lives.”

Youngjo had no idea that so many of his crew had found love on this cruise. It was endearing, in a way.

“What about you, Keonhee?”

“Still all alone,” he put his hands up, lowing his cheeks out.

“Are you though?”

Youngjo had noticed Dongju among the maintenance crew, ambling about aimlessly. He had no business being down here, of course. Not just today, but he had noticed that Dongju turn up wherever Keonhee was, doing seemingly nothing. At first, he had thought it was just a coincidence, but now he thought there might be more to the story.

“What do you mean?” Keonhee narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“What’s Dongju doing here?” Hwanwoong had noticed Dongju too and he waved him over.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Dongju casually strolled over, looking nonchalant.

“What are you doing here?” Keonhee asked.

Shrugging, he said, “Nothing, just came to see how the repair work is going.” He was actively avoiding Keonhee’s eyes.

Youngjo and Hwanwoong exchanged a knowing smile.

They didn’t say anything because what was the point – Dongju would violently refuse and Keonhee would think of it as a joke. It was better to let nature play its course.

“So nice of you to give the engineers a hand with the repairs,” Keonhee grinned devilishly.

Dongju immediately took a step back. “No, no, no I’m not here to help. I wouldn’t know how.” He fluttered his long lashes.

“Well in that case, get out.” Turning his back to them, Keonhee returned to work. “Captain, you’ve got Hwanwoong for ten minutes but then he needs to come back to work.”

Rolling his eyes, Hwanwoong pulled Youngjo away from the rest of the workers to a quieter area. An awning above them created a slightly secluded spot.

“I missed you.” Hwanwoong already had his arms around his neck, trying to pull him down so that he could kiss him.

Bending down so that the younger could reach his lips, he smiled into the kiss, wrapping his arms around his tiny waist.

“I missed you too.”

Shutting his eyes, he let Hwanwoong kiss him gently, enjoying the sensation.

“I need to tell you something.”

“What?”

“I’ve been given a new mission.” Youngjo watched Hwanwoong’s face fall. “I get to pick my bridge crew, but not the rest of the crew.”

Drawing invisible crosses on his collarbone with his finger, Hwanwoong said, “So we might be separated?”

“There is a chance…” It was extremely distracting, Hwanwoong’s finger on his skin but he had to concentrate. “But you’ll wait for me right, if that happens?”

“Of course I will. I won’t-”

They were interrupted by Keonhee’s voice. “Yeo Hwanwoong, your ten minutes is up!”

Jumping up to peck him on the lips, Hwanwoong said, “I’ll see you at the get-together,” before running off to where Keonhee was waiting.

Sighing, Youngjo made his way back to the Space Fleet Headquarters. On the way up to where his office was, he met Heo Youngsaeng, the commander of Earth control. He greeted him and they shared a few pleasantries before Youngsaeng elbowed him on the side, wiggling his eyebrows, and said, “So I hear there’s a certain engineer you’ve been having a fling with?”

Youngjo’s mouth fell open. As far as he knew, his relationship with Hwanwoong was strictly confidential, between his friends and all of the engineering department. Keonhee had promised that none of his engineering friends would talk.

“I-we-well-”

“It’s fine, it’s not illegal or anything.” Youngsaeng winked at him. “But you know that’ll be a problem going forward, right?”

He hadn’t known that. “How so?”

“Well, you know that partners are not allowed on the same mission.”

“But…I thought that’s it’s official – like your officially married or in civil partnership?”

Youngsaeng nodded. “Yes, there isn’t a rule against you and your fling per se, but we do prefer if romantic partners are not aboard the same ship. It’s distraction, you know.”

Youngjo’s heart sank. There was a small chance to be put on the same ship with Hwanwoong to begin with, and now it was even smaller.

“Sir, I-”

Youngsaeng suddenly leaned closer, looking conspiratorial. “Look Youngjo, I like you. And I trust you to be professional. So while you’re just dating, I will put him on the same mission, as long as you promise-”

“Yes, sir, I will be very professional. No one will know!”

With a booming laughter, Youngjo elbowed him again and left, leaving him to make his way to his office with a stupid smile on his face.

In his office, he had Seoho and Geonhak waiting for him.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“We want in, we know you’ve been assigned a new mission,” Geonhak said, wasting no time.

“We would live to serve you again, Captain,” Seoho replied.

“I can’t take both of you, unfortunately.” He took a seat behind his desk, watching the two guys look taken aback.

“Why?”

“Romantic partners are not allowed on the same mission, I was told.”

Their reaction was just what he had expected. They spluttered and scoffed and looked deeply offended.

“Him-me-romantic partners? What?”

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever hard, no offense Captain.”

Youngjo broke into a smile. He couldn’t keep it up.

“You are both in, of course. But the thing about romantic partners is also true, I’ve just been told.”

“So Yeo Hwanwoong won’t be on this mission?” Seoho challenged.

He shrugged in reply. As long as it wasn’t confirmed, anything could happen. He didn’t want to get his hopes up.

“I heard you guys moved in together.”

Once again, they launched into a disgruntled explanation about how Geonhak needed a flat-mate for his overly spacious flat and how Seoho didn’t want to share with his sister anymore and how it happened to be convenient for the two of them to share. They were so red in the face that they looked like they would explode at any moment. He made a mental note to tell the rest of the crew to not tease them about it.

He had already planned to pick his original bridge crew, if they were up for it. They had incredible teamwork, and they were people he genuinely enjoyed being around. It was a great combination. Yes, he could have his pick of more experienced crew, people who had flown for years and were at the top of their game, but he was happy to nurture this team and grow together, with them.

At the get-together, he proposed to his friends about joining him on the mission. To his surprise, they all chorused back “Yes,” even before he finished the question.

“We were worried that because you could pick anyone, you would go for more experienced people,” Byul confided in him. “I mean, you had the right to, but…to be honest, we really wanted to be your crew.”

“Yes, I turned down Captain Yang on his mission to Mars yesterday,” Dongju drawled.

“Are you sure he wanted you in the first place?” Keonhee asked, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

“Of course he did, that’s why he asked me.”

“Right.” Keonhee rolled his eyes.

“We have one bickering couple, we don’t need two,” Byul said.

“We’re not a couple!”

“We’re not bickering!”

“Seoho and I are not a couple!”

Byul pretended to massage her forehead. “You guys need to chill.”

“She’s right, let’s calm down and have a civil conversation.” Yougnjo raised his glass. “Here’s to hoping we have another successful mission.”

They all copied him, the arguments forgotten, their eyes eager.

“To another successful mission.”

“I don’t have any doubts, knowing I have the best crew in the universe.”


End file.
